philematology
/fɪˌləməˈtɑləd͡ʒi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
6
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The Italians use the expression baciare co' denti (kiss with the teeth) to signify "to love." We can only treat these kisses as a sort of transitional link, of shorter or longer duration, according to circumstances. They are, as it were, "a sea fraught with perils," which in Mlle. [Madeleine] de Scudéry's celebrated letter (la carte de tendre), carries one to strange countries (les terres inconnues); but, as these countries lie outside the regions of pure philematology, I shall not pursue my investigations further."
- "Although philematology (the art and science of lip-locking) remains largely unstudied, researchers have proven that kissing not only decreases levels of cortisol, a chemical that creates stress, but also increases oxytocin, a chemical that heightens feelings of affection and potentially fights depression and disease."
- ""Now the flip side of this whole kissing as exercise thing is that, like, hundreds of bacteria are exchanged in a kiss—so you know …" she extended her arms in a balancing gesture, "it's all risk-benefit and yeah, all in the name of philematology—that's the actual scientific term used for the study of kissing. Oh and get this, a woman has usually kissed about seventy-nine men before she finally settles and gets married.""
- "There's a lot riding on a kiss, as work in philematology suggests, since the act appears to set off a complex set of chemical reactions that enhance romantic feelings and make physical acts like sexual intercourse much more meaningful."
Etymology
From Danish filematologi, from Ancient Greek φῐ́λημᾰ (phĭ́lēmă, “a kiss”) + ologi (equivalent to English -ology), but compare the New Latin philēmatologiā, which appears written in Greek as φιληματολογία in the title of a 1659 book.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɪˌləməˈtɑləd͡ʒi/
- British English: /fɪˌlɪməˈtɒləd͡ʒi/