bibliophile
/ˈbɪblɪəˌfaɪl/US/ˈbɪb li əˌfaɪl/
bibliophile noun: one who loves books.
Noun (1)
bibliophile (plural bibliophiles)
- One who loves books.
- A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for public sale one or two such collections formed by bibliomaniacs who, although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked among the worst enemies of books.1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 97
- [A] savage passage of 14th-century invective about the text-obsessed nerdiness of the Florentine bibliophile and friend of Petrarch, Niccolò Niccoli ...2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R28
- One who collects books, not necessarily due to any interest in reading them.
- One who loves the Bible.
- So, just for fun, here are the versions of Romans 1:26-27. Now don't go assuming jsmith@epas.utoronto.ca must be some kind of great bibliophile because he got all these old versions together. They're all in one place, the _New Testament Octapla_ by Luther Weigle, and I added a few of my own texts...1995 April 23, Julian Smith, “Romans 1:26-27 Variants II”, in bit.listserv.catholic (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Feb 2026
- I dont^([sic]) consider myself a bibliophile....I just think it is God's word.1999 February 18, Silva, “WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF JESUS *DID* RETURN?”, in alt.bible.errancy (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Feb 2026
Noun (2) capitalized: Bibliophile
Bibliophile (plural Bibliophiles)
- Alternative letter-case form of bibliophile (“one who loves the Bible”).
- > Whether or not a nonbeliever would care is moot.
That's what bugs me about Bibliophiles, "Bible-worshippers." I was replying to a nonbeliever, so it most definitely is not moot. Look at the context, man.1996 July 15, John Hyde, “Origin of reality (was Re: ...VULGARITY...TOWARDS THE BOSS!)”, in alt.christnet.ethics (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Feb 2026 - I'm not a Bibliophile, but I'm curious about something. You say that NT [New Testament] was translated from Greek to English. But, the Greeks had to at least do translations from x (Hebrew?) to Greek. You don't mean that Paul and Friends spoke Greek, do you?1996 September 4, //, “Creationists prohibit GOD from using HIS method !?”, in alt.catastrophism (Usenet), archived from the original on 07 Feb 2026
- > Whether or not a nonbeliever would care is moot.
Synonyms of bibliophile
Antonyms
Forms of bibliophile
| plural | bibliophiles |
|---|---|
| plural | Bibliophiles |
| alternative form (archaic) | bibliophil |
Origin of bibliophile
First attested in 1820. From biblio- + -phile (from Ancient Greek βιβλίον (biblíon, “paper, document, tablet”) + φίλος (phílos, “beloved”)), probably after French bibliophile.
From Biblio- + -phile.
Words formed from bibliophile
Questions about bibliophile
- What does bibliophile mean?
- Bibliophile means one who loves books.
- What part of speech is bibliophile?
- Bibliophile is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bibliophile?
- Bibliophile is pronounced /ˈbɪblɪəˌfaɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bibliophile?
- The plural of bibliophile is bibliophiles.
Words near bibliophile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bibliophile (page history and authors); Bibliophile (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bibliophile.wav.
Cite this entry: “bibliophile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bibliophile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.