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



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Word of the Day

13 February 2025

BREAK

(verb) cause the failure or ruin of; “His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage”; “This play will either make or break the playwright”


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Coffee Trivia

In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.

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