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.

laurophilous
laurophily
lepidopterophilist
A collector of butterflies. Also known as lepidopterology.
lepidopterophilous
1. A description of butterflies and moths which pollinate plants.
2. A special attraction to, or fondness for, butterflies.
lepidopterophily
A reference to plants which are pollinated by butterflies and moths.
lexiconophilia (s) (noun), lexiconophilias (pl)
A strong love of dictionaries, web sites, and other sources of information about words or vocabulary information: The sources of lexiconophilia involve many people who spend a great deal of time striving to increase their word knowledge.

There are various lexiconophilias that exist in various languages.

lexiconophilist (s) (noun), lexiconophilists (pl)
A person who collects dictionaries and related books about words because he or she has a fondness for vocabulary.
lexophile (s) (noun), lexophiles (pl)
A lover of words; especially, clever ones in games, humorous word compositions, puzzles, anagrams, palindromes, etc.
  • You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.
  • To try to write with a broken pencil is pointless.
  • When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
  • When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
  • A will is usually a dead giveaway.
  • A boiled egg is hard to beat.
  • When you have seen one shopping center, you have seen a mall.
  • Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He's all right now.
  • A bicycle can't stand alone. It's just two tired.
  • When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
  • The man had a photographic memory which was never developed.
  • When the woman saw her first strands of grey hair, she thought she'd dye.
  • Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
  • Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed at the end.
lichenophile
lichenophilous
In biology, thriving on, or having an affinity for, lichens or lichen-rich habitats.
lichenophily
lignophile (s) (noun), lignophiles (pl)
In biology, something that thrives in or on wood.
lignophilic
lignophily
limiphile
Quiz button #1 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.