-philiac
AmericanUsage
What does -philiac mean? The combining form -philiac is used like a suffix to indicate the personal noun form of words that use the form -phile, meaning “love or liking,” "unnatural attraction," or "tendency."The form -philiac roughly means "someone with a liking, tendency, or attraction." It is occasionally used in scientific and everyday terms, especially in pathology.The form -philiac comes from Greek -philiakos, which roughly means “friend.”While -philiac doesn’t have any variants, it is related to six other combining forms: -phile, -philia, -philic, -philism, -philous, and -phily. Want to know more? Check out our Words that Use articles for each form.
Etymology
Origin of -philiac
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.