bibliophile
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bibliophile
Explanation
You can call a book lover a bibliophile. If you find it impossible to leave a book store without buying at least one book, you might be a bibliophile. A bibliophile usually has a huge collection of books and loves nothing more than browsing in a used book shop or a library. A love of books or a deep knowledge about them makes a person a bibliophile. The earliest use of the word bibliophile was in 1820s France, and it came from the Greek prefix biblio, or "book," and the word philos, or "friend." If you consider books to be your true friends, you are definitely a bibliophile.
Vocabulary lists containing bibliophile
All You Need is Love: Amor and Phil
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ASVAB Word Knowledge
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Book Words for Book Worms
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Daunt is a bibliophile and owns a small chain of eponymous independent bookstores in England.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
On May 25, 1926, the New York Public Library announced that it had acquired the celebrated Afro-Latino bibliophile Arturo Schomburg’s collection of more than 4,000 books, manuscripts and other artifacts.
From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2024
He was a Christian Zionist and bibliophile, who by all accounts knew the land of Israel better than many of the Jews who lived there.
From Salon • Oct. 28, 2023
Corcoran was a bibliophile who didn’t horde books but who delighted in knowing what she could about those within her sphere of Modern art interests and making them available to others.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 10, 2022
We owe it to the late Mr. Symons, the English meteorologist and bibliophile, that this MS. and many other old records have been brought to light and published.
From Sounding the Ocean of Air by Rotch, A. Lawrence
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
