philo-, phil-, -phile, -philia, -philic, -philous, -phily, -philiac, -philist, -philism
These are just a few of the meanings set up for the etymological meanings of philo- which comes to us from Greek.
In biology, there are many words that use philo-, phil- to mean "thriving in such and such a place or situation; or exhibiting a tendency for a specified condition" for its existence.
Other meanings include: "strongly attracted to; such as, an organism that loves or is strongly attracted to something which is specified".
In psychology and psychiatry, -phile, -philia, etc. use this element as a word termination indicating an abnormal craving or attraction to or an affinity for an object as shown by the word stems to which they are affixed.
botanophily
(s) (noun) (no pl)
The love of plants: Botanophily was one of the main interests in the Rawson family and all the children grew up having a strong liking for plants and enjoyed gardening very much.
brandophilist
(s) (noun), brandophilists
(pl)
A collector of, or a fondness for collecting cigar bands: As a brandophilist, Mr. Hathaway's saved many narrow paper strips around the rolls of tobacco used for smoking.
brewcanophilist
(s) (noun), brewcanophilists
(pl)
A collector of, or a fondness for collecting beer cans: James didn't like beer, but he was known to be a
brewcanophilist because he liked the different kinds and colors of cans and had a special shelf in his room for presenting the assemblage!
This type of interest is also known as "breweriana collecting".
brontophile
(s) (noun), brontophiles
(pl)
A person who is fond of thunderstorms: Tony always watched the weather forecast and was especially interested in storms, and, as a brontophile, loved watching lightning striking and listening to the crashing and roaring of thunder.
bryophilist
(s) (noun), bryophilists
(pl)
A living form of life that prefers growing in areas rich in mosses and liverworts: Many bryophilists are invertebrates that thrive well in mosses, like the nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades.
In biology, regarding organisms that thrive in habitats rich in mosses and liverworts: Some mites and springtails are considered to be bryophilous in that they dwell in areas that are abundant in liverworts and mosses.
bryophily
(s) (noun) (no pl)
The growth of organisms in an environment with a profuse amount of mosses and liverworts: Part of Jane's biology course dealt with bryophily and she was amazed at the number of organisms that preferred a habitat among liverworts.
buttisephile, buttisephilist
(s) (noun); buttisephiles; buttisephilists
(pl)
A collector of bottles: Somehow Janet, a buttisephile, just couldn't refrain from saving the interestingly shaped bottles which she kept on a shelf near her living room window.
butyrophil
(s) (noun), butyrophils
(pl)
An individual who has a fondness for butter: Mrs. Smith was a butyrophil because when she did any cooking or baking, she always used butter, and even used it when making sandwiches.
butyrophilia
(s) (noun) (no pl)
A strong fancy for butter: Mr. Smart's doctor told him that he was quite overweight, perhaps due to butyrophilia or his extreme partiality for butter on everything he ate!
butyrophilic
(adjective), more butyrophilic, most butyrophilic
A reference to a fondness for butter: Jane wondered how many cups of butyrophilic shortening were needed in making a German chocolate cake.
cacophonophilist
(s) (noun), cacophonophilists
(pl)
Someone who likes to listen to harsh or loud sounds: Many people of the older generation suspect that teenagers are really cacophonophilists who use their earphones and iPods to listen to intensive and excessive musical sounds.
cactophilist
(s) (noun), cactophilists
(pl)
A person who is fond of and accumulates cacti: Jane's biology teacher, Mr. Plant, who was also a cactophilist, really liked cacti and had a wide assortment of different kinds of succulent plants in his home.
cagophilist
(s) (noun), cagophilists
(pl)
An individual who amasses keys: Tom's father just couldn't throw away any old and unusable keys or any that he accidentally found, and his wife told him that he was simply an incorrigible cagophilist!
calcardophile, calcardophilist
(s) (noun); calcardophiles; calcardophilists
(pl)
A collector of visiting cards: Mr. Jackson had a whole assortment of cards of acquaintances and friends with their names, addresses, and phone numbers and was known among her friends to be a
calcardophile.
A calcardophilist also saves "business cards" when going to business meetings.
You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by just clicking this
Philo Quiz #1 link.
Related "love, fondness" units:
agape-;
amat-;
vener-;
venus.
