Word.ws English Dictionary

philematology

Syllables: phi·le·ma·to·lo·gy/fɪˌlɪməˈtɒləd͡ʒi/US/fɪˌləməˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

philematology noun: the scientific study of kissing.

philematology: the scientific study of kissing
Image: Petty Officer 1st Class Martin Maddock, U.S. Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

philematology (uncountable)

  1. The scientific study of kissing.
    • The Italians use the expression baciare co' denti (kiss with the teeth) to signify "to love." We can only treat these kisses as a sort of transitional link, of shorter or longer duration, according to circumstances. They are, as it were, "a sea fraught with perils," which in Mlle. [Madeleine] de...1901, Christopher Nyrop, “Love Kisses”, in William Frederick Harvey, transl., The Kiss and Its History, London: Sands & Co., 12 Burleigh Street, Strand, →OCLC, page 49
    • Although philematology (the art and science of lip-locking) remains largely unstudied, researchers have proven that kissing not only decreases levels of cortisol, a chemical that creates stress, but also increases oxytocin, a chemical that heightens feelings of affection and potentially fights...2010, Michael J. Rosen, Ben Kassoy, M. Sweeney Lawless, “Waking Up on the Right Side of the Bed”, in Any Body’s Guess!: Quirky Quizzes about What Makes You Tick, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel...

Origin of philematology

From Danish filematologi, from Ancient Greek φῐ́λημᾰ (phĭ́lēmă, “a kiss”) + ologi (equivalent to English -ology), but compare the New Latin philēmatologiā, which appears written in Greek as φιληματολογία in the title of a 1659 book.

Words formed from philematology

Questions about philematology

What does philematology mean?
Philematology means the scientific study of kissing.
What part of speech is philematology?
Philematology is a noun.
How do you pronounce philematology?
Philematology is pronounced /fɪˌlɪməˈtɒləd͡ʒi/ (UK).

Words near philematology in the dictionary

  1. Philedom
  2. Philem.
  3. philemaphobia
  4. philematologist
  5. philematologists
  6. philematology
  7. Philemon
  8. Philemons
  9. philenor
  10. philenors
  11. philentoma

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: philematology (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-philematology.wav.

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