# Word Love **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207 "2008-06-08T07:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tadatao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@tadatao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadatao)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/1 "2008-06-08T07:29:21Z")
Hello everyone, Is there a word meaning love of words? And if not, how would one go about trying to introduce one? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/2 "2008-06-08T07:34:23Z")
Bibliophile is a lover of books ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/3 "2008-06-08T07:45:13Z")
“Logophilia” springs to mind but I can’t find it in any of my print dictionaries. “Logophile” (a lover of words) is in the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/4 "2008-06-08T08:00:51Z")
I should add that etymologically [philology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology) means love of words (or of learning) but it has developed a more technical definition that probably isn’t quite what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/5 "2008-06-08T08:04:44Z")
linguaphile ? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/6 "2008-06-08T08:16:18Z")
I hope the words in question are of consenting age. Otherwise it would be Wordperv. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/7 "2008-06-08T11:34:28Z")
Logophile seems to be it. I figured verbophile, but logophile has dozens of times the Google hits and more obviously means “lover of words”. Trust bibliophage, who must be an eater of books. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/8 "2008-06-08T12:12:52Z")
Anu Garg at Wordsmith uses “linguaphile” just as \*\*T. Slothrop \*\* suggested. [Subscribe to Word a Day](http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscribe.html) ---
**Author:** ![tadatao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@tadatao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadatao)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/9 "2008-06-08T12:51:12Z")
Thanks everyone. I think I’m going with logophile. During a discussion with colleagues (EFL teachers, what else?), it was decided that -phile had been unfortunately - perhaps irrevocably - tainted by its association with a certain prefix, so perhaps Myglaren’s wordperv isn’t too far off the mark. Anyway, I shall resolve to bat away childish snickers and proudly call myself a logophile henceforth. Thanks again ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/10 "2008-06-08T15:39:00Z")
A linguaphile is a lover of languages if you’re going by what the roots mean. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/11 "2008-06-08T21:21:23Z")
I’ve always heard “logophile.” I was such a grammar and spelling freak in high school that my friends dubbed me “Word Man.” I never had a cape, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/12 "2008-06-08T21:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] A linguaphile is a lover of languages if you’re going by what the roots mean. [/QUOTE] If you’re going by what the roots mean, isn’t it a lover of tongue? That could be language, muscle, or food, but I think the muscle is the primary meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/13 "2008-06-08T22:07:14Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Drake] If you’re going by what the roots mean, isn’t it a lover of tongue? That could be language, muscle, or food, but I think the muscle is the primary meaning. [/QUOTE] I thought a lover of tongue was a cunnilinguaphile. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/14 "2008-06-09T14:57:40Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] I thought a lover of tongue was a cunnilinguaphile. [/QUOTE] Cunnilinguaphilia - the love that loves you back. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/15 "2008-06-09T18:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] I thought a lover of tongue was a cunnilinguaphile. [/QUOTE] Or a fellatiophile ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/16 "2008-06-09T18:08:11Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Or a fellatiophile [/QUOTE] Or your basic Francophile. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-love/452207/17 "2008-06-11T07:29:26Z")
I’m gonna sell all my dictionaries and buy me a cape.