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-holic. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-holic, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-holic in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-holic you have here. The definition of the word
-holic will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
-holic, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Back-formation from alcoholic.
Suffix
-holic
- suffix interchangeable when describing any part of one’s liberal behavior or numerous acts in excess or binge behavior bordering a diagnosable mental disorder by medical and psychological standards. Repetition and disregard for anything outweighing subject (prefix)-coholic become integral then diagnosed as addiction
- Denotes addiction to the substance or activity of the stem word.
2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:Trump was also a horndog, a braggart, and a social-media-holic—just like voters were.
Usage notes
- The form -holic is usually used with words already ending with vowels. For stems ending with consonants, the phonetically pleasant forms -aholic or -oholic may be more common.
- In contemporary modern English "-holic" is a suffix that can be added to a subject to denote an addiction to it. The term is derived from alcoholism, one of the first addictions to be widely identified both medically and socially.
- There are other more formal terms for such addictions, many uncommonly used. For example, dipsomania, a medico-legal term for alcoholism, is used less than 1% as often as "alcoholism" in a large sample of academic writing over the last 20 years; other examples are given in the following table.
Derived terms
Anagrams