Food Lover's Delight
Yum!
Saturdays are the perfect days for delicious surprises. Surprise—we're talking about people who love to eat and drink!
Philia, one of four ancient Greek words for love, depicts less of a romantic relationship and more of a friendship built on trust and shared interests. The root PHIL- is a root meaning tendency towards, interest in, or love of in words like philosophy and philosopher. As a suffix, -PHILE means lover of and can be added to nearly any base, including many connected to food and drink:
carnophile- someone who loves meat, or a carnivore.
CARN- (flesh) + -PHILE (lover of)
javaphile - coffee lover (Java is the name of a main island in Indonesia very popular for its coffee, so its name has become synonymous with coffee)
JAVA- (coffee) + -PHILE (lover of)
mageirocophile - someone who loves to cook
MAGIER- (culinary arts) + -PHILE (lover of)
mycophile - a lover of mushrooms, particularly of foraging and enjoying wild mushrooms
MYCO- (mushroom) + -PHILE (lover of)
oenophile - a wine aficionado or enjoyer
OENO- (wine) + -PHILE (lover of)
paniphile (noun) - someone who loves to eat bread
PAN- (bread) + -PHILE (lover of)
turophile - cheese fancier or connoisseur
TYRO- (cheese) + -PHILE (lover of)
Words referring to the love of something can be constructed with the suffix -PHILIA, as in oenophilia for the love of wine.
Don’t see your particular culinary predilection expressed here? There are all kinds of ways to describe love of different foods. For example, if you have a sweet tooth, you might be considered a chocoholic:
chocoholic (noun) - someone who loves chocolate and sweets
CHOC- (chocolate) + -AHOLIC (addicted to)
Bon Appetit!
