phil(o)-

Liking for a specified thing.

[Greek philein, to love, or philos, loving.]

A philanthropist (Greek anthrōpos, human being) is a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others; a philogynist (Greek gunē, woman) likes or admires women; someone philoprogenitive has many offspring; a philosopher is literally a lover of wisdom, from Greek sophos, wise; similarly, philology, the study of languages, literally means ‘love of learning’, from Greek logos, word or speech; the adjective philharmonic, devoted to music, is mainly used in the names of orchestras. The form also marks an admirer of a country or people, as with philhellene, a lover of Greece and Greek culture, or philosemitism, admiration for the Jewish people. However, philistine, a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, derives from the Hebrew name for the people.

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