I read a story with it years ago, but I can’t remember it for the life of me. We have plenty of words to describe what most characters eat — carnivore, omnivore, pescatarian, herbivore, octo-lacto vegetarian — but I can’t figure out what the right term for a gem-eating creature (like dragons) would be. Does anyone happen to know the right word?

Geovore? I have zero knowledge of if that's the right term, but it sounds cool.

Gemmivore if you want a neologism using same principles as herbivore. However I've seen fics using a whole array of different words. Silicivore comes to mind.

If a special word doesn't exist, just invent a new word the way Shakespeare did. Lockrime's "gemivore" is a good idea.

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Minevore - mineral consuming

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Geovore would be the accurate term.

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So… it looks like keeping things consistent would require a Latin root (herbivore) or a French one (carnivore). Opting for the former appears to produce “gemmavore” (Jewel-eating) but my Latin isn’t that good so I’m not sure if it is the best option. Using French produces “bijouvore” (it means the same thing) but I’m also not particularly knowledgeable in French either.

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The root there just means “earth” right? Wouldn’t that suggest that they also eat regular rocks? I don’t remember the dragons doing that.

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I mean herbivores don't eat poisonous plants and carnivores don't eat bad meat. It doesn't imply they eat everything having to do with the word.

The correct and standardly accepted term for organisms that eat earth/stone is either lithovore/geovore (or possibly lithotroph, although that term is usually used for bacteria). The consumption of gems would be a subset of that.
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I mean, that distinction isn't nearly as meaningful as you imply, gems are just unusually pure rocks. Anything that can consume sapphire (alumina) and quartz (silica) can consume most normal rock without issue, that probably expands to 'all rock' when we start including other gems.

I'm leaning towards geovore.

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Okay, that’s good to know.

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Different plants are poisonous to different creatures and there are animals that eat rotten meat. I just figured that the term should describe most of what is being eaten.

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Seconded on lithovore.

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"Gemme" is a word in French.

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Well, TIL French words for gem. It looks like it’s a three way tie.

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In addition to the various terms that had been mentioned above and that are rock- or gem-specific, gem-eating would also be a case of durophagy (consumption of hard food items in general, such as hard-shelled molluscs and crustaceans).

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That made me think about eating crabs and diamonds at the same time and now my teeth hurt.

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Eating rocks would be a Lithovore.
Earthing 'earth' in general would be a Terravore.
Geovore is the best in this case.
Unless you want to make up words like Gemivore, which is fair.

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Thank you for the clarification!

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The specific term for a creature that eats gemstones is a crystallovore.

I would like to point out, however, that a dragon in MLP is actually more of an extreme omnivore, seeing as they can eat normal food just fine.