ephebophilia
ephebophilia noun: a sexual attraction towards postpubescent adolescents.
Noun
ephebophilia (uncountable)
- A sexual attraction towards postpubescent adolescents.
- A sexual preference for adolescent boys.
- The assertion, often naïvely made, that in the Homeric poems there is as yet no trace of the love of boys to be met with, and that it was a phenomenon which first appeared during the so-called decadence is, in my opinion, false, for I have already shown in an earlier work (in Anthropophyteia, ix...1932, Hans Licht [pseudonym; Paul Brandt], translated by J. H. Freese, “[Male Homosexuality] History of Greek Love of Boys”, in Lawrence H. Dawson, editor, Sexual Life in Ancient Greece, London...
- Thus, paedophilia, denoting sexual interest in pre-pubertal children, can be distinguished from paederasty, indicating sexual interest in pre-pubertal boys alone. These two together could then be distinguished from ephebophilia, denoting sexual preference for post-pubertal and adolescent boys.1981 Brian Taylor, PhD Perspectives on Paedophilia page XIII
Examples of ephebophilia in a sentence
- 2006 Looking at Ephebophilia through the Lens of Cleric Sexual Abuse from volume 13 issue 4 of "Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity"
- "Paedophilia is the erotic preference for children, ephebophilia that for male ... pubescents."1983 Robin Scroggs The New Testament and Homosexuality: Contextual Background for Contemporary Debate page 148
- paraphilias are included: hebephilia (adolescent girls) and ephebophilia (adolescent boys), although the dynamics of these latter two may be closer to those of adult attraction.1989 Robert H. Rencken Intervention Strategies for Sexual Abuse page 10
Origin of ephebophilia
From Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “adolescent”) + φιλία (philía, “love, friendship”). By surface analysis, ephebe + -philia.
Words formed from ephebophilia
Words that rhyme with ephebophilia
- aquaphilia
- bibliophilia
- biophilia
- microphilia
- necrophilia
- philia
- -philia
- geophilia
- gerontophilia
- pedophilia
- trichophilia
- vorarephilia
36 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- xenophilia
- zoophilia
- androphilia
- aptophilia
- asphyxiophilia
- autoandrogynemorphophilia
- autoandrophilia
- autogynandromorphophilia
- autogynephilia
- autonepiophilia
- cilia
- claustrophilia
- coprophilia
- discophilia
- eproctophilia
- glossophilia
- haemophilia
- inflatophilia
- Japanophilia
- juvenilia
- Kabylia
- klismaphilia
- Laconophilia
- limnophilia
- lithophilia
- logophilia
- lygophilia
- macrophilia
- milia
- nyctophilia
- opacarophilia
- plushophilia
- scopophilia
- sillier
- teratophilia
- urophilia
Questions about ephebophilia
- What does ephebophilia mean?
- Ephebophilia means a sexual attraction towards postpubescent adolescents.
- How do you use ephebophilia in a sentence?
- 2006 Looking at Ephebophilia through the Lens of Cleric Sexual Abuse from volume 13 issue 4 of "Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity"
- What part of speech is ephebophilia?
- Ephebophilia is a noun.
Words near ephebophilia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ephebophilia (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)-Flame, not lame-ephebophilia.wav.
Cite this entry: “ephebophilia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ephebophilia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.