PEDOPHILIA

pedophilia, paedophilia

(noun) a sexual attraction to children

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

pedophilia (countable and uncountable, plural pedophilias) (American spelling)

Sexual attraction to children by adults.

Synonyms: childlove (euphemistic), pederosis

Antonyms: teleiophilia, pedophobia

Coordinate terms: hebephilia, ephebophilia, korephilia, teleiophilia

Hypernym: paraphilia

Sexual activity between adults and children.

Usage notes

• Many psychologists recommend against using the term pedophilia to denote sexual activities with children, because not all people with a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children (i.e, pedophilia) commit such acts, and child molesters often lack a strong sexual interest in prepubescent children. Furthermore, psychological texts define pedophilia as a primary or exclusive attraction towards specifically prepubescent children; primary attraction towards pubescent children is known as hebephilia and towards post-pubescent adolescents as ephebophilia. See Wikipedia for more information.

Synonyms

• (psychiatry): pedophilic disorder (“a clinical diagnostic classification”) (American Psychiatric Association)

Source: Wiktionary



RESET




Word of the Day

3 May 2025

DESIRABLE

(adjective) worth having or seeking or achieving; “a desirable job”; “computer with many desirable features”; “a desirable outcome”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

Coffee starts as a yellow berry, changes into a red berry, and then is picked by hand to harvest. The red berry is de-shelled through a water soaking process and what’s left inside is the green coffee bean. This bean then dries in the sun for 3-5 days, where it is then packed and ready for sale.

coffee icon