The Ultimate Bibliophile's Dictionary!

Posted by Jamie M., Book Specialist on Feb 20th 2017

Because sometimes "bookworm" just isn't enough to describe your love for literature, here are ten unique words every bibliophile should have under their belt.

The first on our list is librocubicularist. Go ahead and try to say that five times fast. Though extravagant, librocubicularist is simply the word for a person who reads in bed! Who doesn't enjoy snuggling under the sheets with a good book on a rainy day, right?

Perhaps you have a friend or coworker who's an ultracrepidarian - one who gives opinions on matters they know nothing about. Ironically, this word was first used by a literary critic. 

In the same family as the ultracrepidarian, we find the morosoph - a learned fool or a would-be philosopher. While they may seem to be overflowing with knowledge, chances are they're just spouting nonsense. 

Ever been accused of reading too much? Congratulations! You can officially use the best word ever to describe yourself: bibliobibuli. We have H.L. Mencken to thank for this wonderful little word that quite literally means "people that read too much". 

                                         

First appearing in Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1805, book-bosomed refers to someone that carries a book with them at all times. Eventually, these avid readers may become omnilegent - a word meaning "having read everything" or "addicted to reading". 

Of course, not everyone is a fan of literature - and so we come to the book scorpion, someone who is hostile to books or learning - we can only hope the book scorpions of the world come around to our wordy ways...or maybe they'd be interested in something more...

Monepic.

A sentence containing one single word. More suited for a book scorpion, for sure. 

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words, the most ironic word to ever exist (I mean, really?).

And lastly (but certainly not least-ly), we'll leave you with logodaedaly, a term which means the arbitrary coining of new words. Hopefully, this list has inspired you to coin some new words of your own.


Keep these fanciful words and phrases on the tip of your tongue! You never know when you may need them.

"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic." - J.K. Rowling