Bacterivory is the consumption of bacteria as a food source. There are a number of synonyms for this term, each of which describes the act of consuming bacteria in a slightly different way. Some popular synonyms for bacterivory include bacterial predation, bacterial grazing, bacteriophagy, and bacterial consumption. These terms are commonly used in scientific literature to describe the feeding habits of a variety of organisms, from protozoa to insects to mammals. Each of these synonyms sheds light on a different aspect of the process of bacterivory, whether it be the active hunting of bacteria or simply the passive consumption of them as they pass through the digestive tract.