word-forming element meaning "friendship, fondness, tendency toward," and in recent use "abnormal attraction to," from Greek philia "affection," from philos "loving," which is of uncertain origin. Related: -philic.
Entries linking to -philia
claustrophilia n.
"morbid desire to be shut up in a confined space," 1884, from claustro-, abstracted from claustrophobia, + -philia.
coprophilia n.
"attraction, usually sexual, to defecation and feces," 1914, from copro- + -philia. Related: Coprophilic (1910, in Brill's translation of Freud). French coprophile is attested from 1903 in reference to fungi that grow on dung, and coprophilious is attested in English from 1953 in a fungal sense.