petroholic

P3E1T1R1O1H4O1L1I1C3

noun

One who uses more petrol than necessary.

OriginEnglish alcoholic ← Middle English alcofol ← Medieval Latin alcoho →
Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounpetroholic (plural petroholics)

plural petroholics

  1. derogatoryinformalOne who uses more petrol than necessary.

    “We’re a nice little selfish country of petroholics, and that has made us lazy,” said Frederic Hauge, president of Bellona, Norway’s largest nongovernmental environmental organization.

    2008 March 22, Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Lofty Pledge to Cut Emissions Comes With Caveat in Norway”, in New York Times
    1 more example

    We're a nation of petroholics, lurching around the globe like a drunk with a hand grenade staggering through a nursery, yet the cure the President offers is more smart bombs and an energy program that's nothing more than drill, burn...

    1991, David Ross Brower, Work in progress

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπέτρᾱ (pétrā)
  2. Latinpetra
  3. Englishpetro-
  4. Akkadian𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)
  5. Aramaicכוחלא (kuḥlā)
  6. Arabicكُحْل (kuḥl)
  7. Andalusian Arabicكُحُول (kuḥūl)
  8. Medieval Latinalcoho
  9. Middle Englishalcofol
  10. Englishalcohol
  11. Englishalcoholic
  12. Englishpetroholic

From petro- + -holic.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

petroholic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petroholic

MLA

“petroholic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petroholic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “petroholic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petroholic.

Source: petroholic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.