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.
The situation of an animal dwelling in moving water: It was interesting for Mary to know that rheophily was part of an article that had lots of examples of animals that existed in or near flowing water, including the river otter and and fish, like the shiners and catfish.
An organism that grows on roots: The rhizobium is a rhizophile that nurish itself on the nodules of roots and provide nitrogen for the plants.
rhizophilous (adjective), more rhizophilous, most rhizophilous
In biology, oertaining to an organism that thrives on roots: Rhizophilous bacteria form a symbiosis with legumes by taking in nitrogen from the atmosphere and passing it on to the plant. This way the plant can grow in soil that is low in nitrogen.
The instance of a form of life growing on roots: When learning about rhizophily, Jenny found out that microorganisms were quite beneficial for the roots of plants in that they fixed nitrogen and promoted plants to grow.
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.
