In linguistics, combining forms can be joined together like building blocks to create a word. Take the word “philosophy” as an example. It comes from the Greek noun philosophía, which consists of two combining forms: philo- (loving) and -sophia (wisdom).
As illustrated in romance novels, love comes in a myriad of forms and can be found in different places. In terms of building words, this is also a fitting description. While philo- is placed at the beginning of a word, -phile (meaning “lover”) is used as the suffix at the end of a word. Words ending with -phile are nouns, referring to people who have a strong affinity or love for the thing specified by the first element of the word. Take logophile as an example, the beginning of the word comes from lógos, the Greek for “word”. A logophile is therefore a “lover of words”. Similarly, bibliophile means “book lover” — biblio- coming from the Greek biblion, meaning “book”. A cinephile is a person who is fond of cinematic art and knows a lot about films. An audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity playback of sound and music. A technophile is someone who loves new technology. As hard as it is to believe, there is even a word for people who love to work— ergophile.
From the mid-19th century onwards, -phile has been put after elements referring to a nation or an ethnic group to coin new words for admirers of the nation or its people or customs. For instance, a person who has great fondness for China or Chinese culture is called a Sinophile, where Sino- is the Latin prefix that means “Chinese”. Unsurprisingly, other countries have their own admirers as well: Anglophiles (England), Francophiles (France), Italophiles (Italy) and Russophiles (Russia), just to name a few. If you are simply attracted to anything foreign, you are probably a xenophile, with xeno- meaning “foreign” in Greek.
Love and hatred are often described as two sides of the same coin. Not all people are open-minded enough to embrace a foreign culture. The antonym of xenophile is xenophobe, in which the combining form -phobe refers to someone who has a strong fear or hatred of something. Another related combining form is -phobia, as seen in the word xenophobia, which means a visceral dislike of other countries and their people. Both -phobe and -phobia come from phóbos, the ancient Greek word for “fear”. Yet, when these two combining forms are preceded by a prefix indicating nationality, race or sexual identity, the formed words are often associated with hostility towards that specific group of people instead of a fear of them. To build a more inclusive society, there have been ongoing efforts to curb homophobia (prejudice against homosexuals) and transphobia (prejudice against transgender people).
Fear could be culturally rooted, as seen in the curious superstition relating to the numbers 4 and 13. The former is avoided by the Chinese due to its similar pronunciation to the word “死” (death), whereas the latter is considered unlucky in many Western cultures. The origins of the fear of 13 are murky. Some attribute it to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, who was the thirteenth guest to arrive at the Last Supper. In English, there are specific terms describing the fear of 4 and 13: tetraphobia and triskaidekaphobia. The initial elements of both words, tetra- and triskaideka-, come from the Greek words for 4 and 13 respectively.
Some phobias are much more personal. While spiders are sometimes kept as exotic pets, Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series would gladly stay away from them due to his arachnophobia. Likewise, the word’s initial element comes from the Greek word arákhnē, which means “spider”. Other kinds of fear are a product of the environment. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was understandable if people developed germophobia, an abnormal and extreme fear of germs or dirt. Thanks to the prevalence of mobile phones, the word nomophobia has been given a new lease of life. Originating from Greek, the prefix nomo- means laws. Thus, the original meaning of nomophobia is “aversion to or fear of laws”. However, since the 2000s it has become the abbreviation of “no mobile phobia”, which describes the anxiety and stress caused by having no access to a mobile phone.
Times change, so do the things we like, dislike and fear. The creation of new “-phile” and “-phobia” words reflects emerging cultural trends, interests, or technological advancements. We can expect to see the emergence of more novel words like technophile and germophobia, echoing our collective obsessions and fears in the increasingly challenging world.
