Word of the Day

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

philomath

\FIL-uh-math\ , noun;

A lover of learning; a scholar.

Read the full entry|See synonyms|Comment on today's word

Quotes:

It is precisely for the philomaths that universities ought to cater.

-- Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies

It's nothing to laugh about, he says. "Strange things happen in this country -- things that philosophers and other philomaths had never dreamed of."

-- Tomek Tryzna, Miss Nobody

Origin:

Philomath is from the Greek philomathes, "loving knowledge," from philos, "loving, fond" + mathein, "to learn, to understand."