Word.ws English Dictionary

ephebophilic

ephebophilic adjective: pertaining to ephebophilia or an ephebophile (a preference or preferrer of adolescent boys).

Adjective

ephebophilic

  1. Pertaining to ephebophilia or an ephebophile (a preference or preferrer of adolescent boys)
    • Hebephilic offenders (those who prefer adolescent girls) and ephebophilic offenders (those with a homosexual preference for adolescent boys) exhibit characteristics which parallel those of the pedophile.1980 Sexual Abuse of Children: Selected Readings page 30 (in chapter 7: "The Nature and Treatment of Male Sex Offenders" by Ronald M. Costell, M.D.)
    • It is difficult to categorize juveniles who commit sex crimes against other children. Within this group there are hebephilic offenders who prefer adolescent females, ephebophilic offenders with a homosexual preference, and still others who appears generally pedophilic (Costell, 1980, p. 30).1987, Working with Violent Families: A Guide for Clinical and Legal Practitioners, page 187

Origin of ephebophilic

From ephebophilia + -ic.

Questions about ephebophilic

What does ephebophilic mean?
Ephebophilic means pertaining to ephebophilia or an ephebophile (a preference or preferrer of adolescent boys).
What part of speech is ephebophilic?
Ephebophilic is an adjective.

Words near ephebophilic in the dictionary

  1. ephebophile
  2. ephebophiles
  3. ephebophilia
  4. ephebophiliac
  5. ephebophiliacs
  6. ephebophilic
  7. ephebos
  8. ephebosexual
  9. ephebosexuality
  10. ephebosexuals
  11. ephebus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ephebophilic (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.

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