A.Word.A.Day--bibliophage

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Jan 31, 2020

This week’s theme
Words about books

This week’s words
bibliophilia
chrestomathy
biblioclast
feuilleton
bibliophage

Photo: Africa Studio/Adobe Stock

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

bibliophage

PRONUNCIATION:

(BIB-lee-uh-fayj)

MEANING:

noun: One who loves to read books; a bookworm.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek biblio- (book) + -phage (one who eats).

USAGE:

“An author and publisher himself, [Karl] Lagerfeld was a bibliophile of epic appetite. (Practically a bibliophage, he is said to have torn the pages out of thick paperbacks as he read them.) He bought French books, English books, books of poetry, signed books, first editions, monographs, everything he could find.”
Lauren Collins; The Lagerfeld Economy; The New Yorker; Dec 2, 2019.

Also see, “I Am the “Book Murderer”, But I Tear Them Apart Out of Love.”
Bibliophage or biblioclast? You decide.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely that there's more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than among the ranks of the disadvantaged. -Norman Mailer, author (31 Jan 1923-2007)

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