December 2023 What's in a Word? by Fran Joyce
Last month we gave you a list of “Phile” words and promised another list for December.
In keeping with our theme of unfinished business I selected words from nature to help end the year on a positive note.
“Phile” denotes fondness for a specific thing. It’s a combing form meaning “lover of” or “enthusiast.” It’s from the Latin “philus” or the Greek “phila,” for “dear or beloved” when used in a proper names such as Philadelphia, which means the city of brotherly love from the Ancient Greek philos (beloved, dear) and adelphós (brother, brotherly).
Two other combing forms, Phila and philiac are related to phile. For example, a bibliophile is a person who collects or has a great love of books. How many of these words do you know?
1. Astrophile – a person who loves stars and astronomy.
2. Dendrophile – A person who loves trees
3. Hodophile – a lover of roads and travel.
4. Limnophile -a person who loves lakes.
5. Nephophile – a lover of clouds.
6. Opacarophile – a person who loves sunsets.
7. Orophile – A person who loves mountains.
8. Photophile – A person who finds comfort in natural light.
9. Selenophile – A person who loves the moon.
10. Thalassophile – A lover of the sea and the ocean.
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