-phil-

A philia is the love or obsession with a particular thing or subject. The suffix -philia is used to specify the love or obsession with something more specific. It is antonymic to -phobia.

Philia as a greek word for love refers to brotherly love, including friendship and affection. This contrasts to the Greek terms Eros, or sexual/romantic love, and agape, or detached, spiritual love. However, it should be noted that English usage differs in some cases from the eytmological use, and several of these words refer in English not to brotherly love but to sexual attraction.

The suffix -phile (or, in a few cases, -philiac) applies to someone who has one of these philia. It is the antonym of -phobic.

What follows is a list of words that have the suffix -philia.

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A

• ailurophilia - Love of cats
• ammophilia - Love of sand and sandy places
• androphilia - Love of men
• Anglophilia - Love of English and/or England
• anthophilia - Attraction to flowers
• apodysophilia - Desire to undress, see also nudism
• apotemnophilia - Desire to amputate a healthy limb
• arctophilia - Love of Teddy Bears
• astrophilia - Love of astronomy
• assophilia - Love of Asses
• audiophila - Love of recorded sound
• Australophilia - Love of Australians and/or Australia (lit. love of the south)
• autogynephilia - Love of oneself as a woman
• autovoxiphillia - Love of one's own voice
• autoerotihentaiphilia- Love of masturbating to japanese anime pornography.

B

• bibliophilia - Love of books

C

• cacophonophilia - Love of harsh sounds
• cagophilia - Love of keys
• canophilia - Love of dogs
• cartophilia - Love of cigarette cards
• chasmophilia - Love of small places
• chiropterophilia - Love of bats
• chrysophilia - Love of gold
• clinophilia - Love of beds
• coprophilia - Sexual pleasure from feces
• crurophilia - Love of legs
• cypripareuniaphila - Love of prostitutes

D

• dendrophilia - Love of trees
• discophilia - Love of sound recordings

E

• ecdysiophile - Love of watching people strip
• ergophilia - Love of work
• Europhilia - Love of Europe and/or Europeans

F

• Francophilia/Gallophilia - Love of France and/or the French

G

• geophilia - Love of earth or geology
• Germanophilia - Love of Germany and/or German
• gerontophilia - Sexual attraction towards the elderly
• glossophilia - Love of languages
• gynephilia - Love of women
• gynotikolobomassophilia - Love of biting a female's earlobes

H

• halophilia - Love of salt or salt-water
• heliophilia - Love of sunlight
• hippophilia - Love of horses
• hirsutophilia - Love of hairy men
• homophilia - Love of the same sex (i.e. homosexual)
• Hoplophilia - Sexual arousal from firearms and weaponry
• hydrophilia - Love of water
• hygrophilia - Love of living next to or spending time around water

I

• iconophilia - Love of pictures and symbols
• insulaphilia - Love of islands
• Islandophilia - Love of Iceland, Icelandic culture, etc.

K

• klismaphilia - Sexual pleasure from enemas
• korophilia - Love of young men or boys

L

• labeorphilia - Love of beer bottle labels
• lavacultophilia - Desire to stare at someone in a bathing suit
• lexiconophilist - Love of dictionaries and wordbooks
• limnophilia - Love of ponds or marshes
• lithophilia - Love of stones
• logophilia - Love of words - Logophiles may be interested in word games, such as crosswords, or Scrabble, and in the extreme, derive enjoyment from reading things commonly given less notice, such as labels,
• lygophilia - Love of darkness

bbb

M

• malophilia - Love of apples
• megamalophilia - Extreme love of apples, or love of the Big Apple
• metrophilia - Love of the metro rail or subway systems
• myrmecophilia - Love of ants

N

• nanophilia - Love of short people
• necrophilia - Sexual attraction to corpses
• negrophilia - Love of black people
• nemophilia - Love of the woods/forests
• neophilia - Love of the latest novelties and trends
• Nipponophilia Love of the Japanese and/or Japan
• nitrophilia - Love of nitrogen
• notaphilia - Love of bank-notes and cheques

O

• oenophilia - Love of Wine
• ombrophilia - Love of large amounts of rainfall
• ophiophilia - Love of snakes
• ornithophilia - Love of birds
• osmophilia - Love of various smells

P

• paedophilia - Sexual attraction to children
• palaeophilia - Love of dinosaurs and prehistoric things
• paraphilia - any sexual attraction considered unusual or taboo
• pathenophillia - Love of virgins
• peristerophilia - Love of pigeons
• petrophilia - Love of living or spending time in rocky areas
• philalethia - Love of the truth
• philately - Interest in postage stamps
• philosemitism - Interest in or respect for the Jewish people, and the historical significance of the Jewish culture
• photophilia - Love of living or spending time in lighted conditions
• phytophilia - Love of plants
• pogonophilia - Love of beards
• psammophile - A plant loving sandy areas
• psychrophilia - Love of cold temperatures
• pygophilia - Love of buttocks

R

• retrophilia - Love of things of the past
• rheophilia - Love of living or spending time in running water
• rhizophilous - Love of living or spending time on roots
• Russophilia - Love of Russia and/or Russians

S

• sarcophilia - Love of flesh
• sciophilia - Love of living or spending time in shady conditions
• Scopophilia - Sexual pleasure from seeing things
• Scotophilia - Love of Scotland and/or the Scottish
• scripophilia - Love of bond and share certificates
• Sinophilia - Love of China and/or the Chinese
• stegophilia - Love of climbing buildings
• stigmatophilia - Love of tattooing or branding

T

• technophilia - Love of technology
• thalassophilia - Love of the ocean
• theophilia - Love of God
• thermophilia - Love of high temperatures
• threpterophilia - Love of female nurses
• timbrophilia - Love of stamps
• tobaccophilia - Love of tobacco
• topophilia - Love of a particular place
• toxophilia - Love of archery
• tropophilia - Love of seasonal extremes of climate
• turophilia - Love of cheese
• typhlophilia - Love of the blind

W

• Wikiphilia - Love of the Wikipedia site!

X

• xenophilia - Love of foreigners (in science-fiction, can also mean sexual attraction to aliens)
• xerophilia - Love of living or spending time in very dry conditions
• xylophilia - Love of wood

Z

• zoophilia - Love of non-human animals (beware: is generally used to mean sexual attraction to non-human animals)

Other words

There are a number of words that contain the same -philia suffix, but which are not a human love for something

• chromophilous - Staining easily
• electrophile - A substance having an affinity for electrons or negative charge
• entomophilous - Adapted for pollination by insects
• hemophilia -A disease relating to blood clotting

See also

• Greek words for love