Etymology

pedophilia

ped·o·phil·i·a
P3E1D2O1P3H4I1L1I1A1

Today it means: Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children. Full definition →

German Pädophilie
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · borrowed fromPädophilie
  2. English todaypedophilia

Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Medieval Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.