philo-, phil-, -phile, -philia, -philic, -philous, -phily, -philiac, -philist, -philism
(Greek: love, loving, friendly to, fondness for, attraction to; strong tendency toward, affinity for)
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.
In biology, an amicable interaction between ants and lepidopterous larvae: It was fascinating to listen to the professor talking about chrymosymphily in which the larvae of butterflies and moths and ants helped each other out to survive!
An individual who has a special desire for gold: The elderly Mrs. Smith was a chrysophile and so very fond of gold items that she collected many dishes with gold trim and had quite a selection of gold jewellery to wear.
Someone who is a lover of gold: As a chrysophilist, Steve had such a fondness for possessing gold that he was spending as much money as possible in buying gold coins and gold bars.
The love of gold: Susan was very much attracted to and involved with chrysophily and found herself collecting everything made of gold, she even went to the bank to buy some gold coins and bars of gold!
A collector of cigar bands: As a cigrinophilist, Sam had quite a large number of paper and foil loops that fit around cigars, and he found out that they were invented in the 1830s.
The fondness for, or a fancy for cigar bands: Mr. Turner couldn't smoke anymore because of health reasons, but cigrinophily was still part of his life, and he had a great collection of old cigars and their bands.
A cineast; a person who is especially interested in films and cinema: Mary was a cinephile and went to the movie theater twice a week with her friends, who were also cinephiles or film enthusiasts.
cinephilic (adjective), more cinephilic, most cinephilic
Referring to a film or movie enthusiast: Bernhard was a cinephilic person who had a strong love of films and the cinema and could name all the best producers.
The fondness or strong attraction to movies, films, or the cinema: George read a book about cinephily which reviewed all the best films, actors and actresses, directors, and producers.
An individual who accumulates scissors: Ruth had a number of different kinds of scissors or sheers, like for paper, fabric, and for embroidery, and she read that such a collector was termed a cisoriaphilist
A person who is fond of being in small, enclosed areas: Isaac was a claustorphile who preferred working in a very limited space, or booth, when he was busy with his computer projects.
Relating to someone who has a strong preference to be in small places rather than in roomy or spacious areas: Robert was a claustrophilic who definitely wanted to work in enclosed spaces that were big enough for one person so he could do something without other people seeing or hearing him, especially when he was talking on the phone as he discussed technical issues with customers of his company.
A mug collector: Whenever Jim, a clyvesophile, went on vacation to foreign countries, he always brought back a one-handled drinking vessel which had various pictures of places in that town or country on it to add to all the others he had in his living room cabinet.
A desire for or fondness of mugs: In the book on clyvesophily, Valerie read all about the histories of the mugs she had collected over the years from many countries around the world.
A person who collects wooden decoy ducks: Max loved his display of broad-billed swimming birds made of wood which were used to lure real birds into danger, and he was noted to have the largest collection of such objects and was termed to be a cobbophile.
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.
