As readers, we are passionate about words as well. And the discovery of unique, unusual, interesting words perks us up just as much as that cuppa coffee; don’t you agree? So here are a few Words for Book Lovers!

I am sure you did (agree) so here are 15 words for you to use when you want to describe yourself a wee bit differently, you ken!? I am skipping bibliophile since you have probably already used this many a time; along with the oft-used bookworm…

Note that all of them might find themselves in the OED but they are there, ready for use anyways; borrowed, made-up, or not…

Abibliophobia

Looking at my TBR list, this is not a phobia I will hopefully ever have. It refers to the fear of running out of things to read. There are exceptions though, maybe a long airplane ride and have read all the books we had with us? I might walk around the plane troubling others for books 🙂 but with ebooks, this might not happen.

Ballycumber

A noun that refers to any one of six half-read books lying in your bed. I definitely have a few ballycumbers lying around always.

This word was coined by writer Douglas Adams in The Meaning of Liff, a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology.

Bibliobuli

I know that I might be described as one sometimes. This refers to people who read too much, who are, in some sense, drunk on books.

The term was coined in 1957 by H. L. Mencken, from the Greek “biblio”, meaning books, and the Latin “bibulous”, from “bibere” (to drink).

“There are people who read too much: bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.”

Biblioclast

Well, if you are a bibliophile, you are definitely not a biblioclast (though you might or might not be a biblioklept); but if you love your books, you will definitely keep (them) away from biblioclasts (those who destroy or mutilate books) and biblipklepts (those who steal them; of course, if you are one yourself, you do not want someone to steal the books you stole!)

Bibliognost

I am striving to be one, and I know the road is long, but the journey is wonderful! A bibliognost is one who has comprehensive knowledge of books and bibliography.

Bibliophage

One who devours books, literally! from biblio – meaning books and phage – meaning ‘to eat’.

Bibliotaph

I definitely am a bibliotaph, a secret one at that. Don’t open my closet… well, don’t worry, nothing more than books to find there; the clothes are just a facade!

Book-bosomed

The word is self-explanatory. Someone who is book-bosomed is someone who always has a book with them, as in, always seen hugging a book to their bosom.

This first appeared in Walter Scott’s celebrated 1805 poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Epeolatry

This literally means worship of words and was apparently coined in 1860 by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. This post is kind of an epeolatry, isn’t it?

Incunabula

Not sure how many of these get read today, as the singular incunabula refers to an early printed book, especially one printed before 1501.

Lectory

refers to your reading place.

Librocubicularist

refers to one whose lectory is the bed!

Omnilegent

this person definitely suffers from abibliphobia, having read everything there is to read

Scripturient

Means having a desire or passion for writing; having a liking or itch for authorship.

Tsundoku

This is a beautiful Japanese word which literally means ‘to buy more books than one can read’. This is derived from ‘tsunde’ that means ‘to stack things’ and ‘oku’ which means ‘to leave for a while.’

And so my bookish summer continues…..

This was for Day 5 of my bookish summer.. as I take a blogging journey along with fellow  UBCers and other blogger friends all around the world. Once again, thank you for your support always!

Here are my previous Bookish Summer posts:

• A Bookish Summer Begins
• She Reads…..They Read..
• Tag: My Blog’s Name in TBR Books
• Re(a)d, White and Blue