[1880–85; ‹ L sarcophagus ‹ Gk sarkophágos flesh-eating, equiv. to sarko-sarco- + -phagos-phagous]This word is first recorded in the period 1880–85. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: automatism, highball, jackpot, pari-mutuel, rain checksarco- is a combining form meaning “flesh,” used in the formation of compound words. Otherwords that use the affix sarco- include: ichthyosarcotoxin, sarcocarcinoma, sarcocarp, sarcology, sarcoplasm; -phagous is a combining form meaning “eating,” “feeding on,” “devouring” the thing specifiedby the initial element. Other words that use the affix -phagous include: endophagous, hematophagous, monophagous, rhizophagous, stenophagous