Xenophyte is a Xero

I chose the words for today because xerophyte is the only word I have in my “some day blog on this word” list that begins with any one of the last four letters of the alphabet – I also don’t have any words on that list that begin with the letter j. I originally misread the word as xenophyte (there is no such word, to my knowledge), and was wondering the difference between xenophyte and xenophobe. When I went to my dictionary to look for the two words, I found xenophilia there, so even in looking up words I find new good words. When I didn’t find xenophyte I realized I’d misspelled it but now had three words to consider.

I don’t know where I encountered the word xerophyte in my reading, but it’s a good word for my garden plans. It refers to any plant that is structurally adapted to growing under very dry or desert conditions. (Greatly reduced leaf surfaces to avoid water loss, thick fleshy parts for water storage, and hairs, spines or thorns.) It comes from a combination of the Greek word for dry, xero-, and the Greek word for plant, phyton. It and xenophilia are the first two words in my dictionary that aren’t in etymonline.com.

The –phyte suffix is also used in the word neophyte. Neophyte comes from neo-, the Greek word for new, and a different etymological source word in Greek: phytos, which means produce or grow, or plant. It is used in the New Testament (in I Timothy 3:6) to refer to a new convert. It retains that meaning, but now is expanded to refer to any person who’s new to something. By the way, this is the first time I know that I’ve encountered a scripture reference in my dictionary and/or etymonline.com (it was in both). While it has been found in English since about 1550, its use was rare until the 19th century. And it has long had the double sense of convert and new person to any endeavor (its first recording of the second sense was in 1599).

Xenophobia, which is, according to etymonline.com, “coined” from the Greek word xenos (meaning foreign or strange) and phobia (meaning fear), is a relatively recent addition to English, having a coinage date of 1903. Its definition is a fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything foreign or strange. Whether this is also a diagnosis I’ll leave to someone with a DSM on their shelf.

Xenophilia is, according to Answers.com, the opposite of xenophobia. In other words, it is the attraction to or admiration of strangers or foreigners or of anything foreign or strange. The -philia comes from the Greek word for loving, philos.

The suffix –philia has a couple of suggested meanings in my dictionary, and one of them is a new word to me. The first meaning is “tendency toward” as in the word hemophila (hemo- is from the Greek word for blood, haimo- or haima- , and hemophilia is “a hereditary” – I didn’t know that – “condition in which one of the normal blood-clotting factors is absent, causing prolonged bleeding from even minor cuts and injuries.” The fact that it occurs in males and is transmitted by females is also something of which I was unaware.)

The second meaning given for –philia is “abnormal attraction to” as in coprophilia. Coprophilia is a new word to me, and will be the subject of Sunday’s scatological blog. Something to look forward to…maybe.