-philic

suffix

"philic" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“-philic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of -philous.

Corpus desk

Index EN-philic · -philic · English

-philic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "-" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for -philic
PropertyValue
Headword-philic
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechSuffix
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “-philic” in English

-philicranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

-philic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of -philous.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for -philic in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos, “love”) + -ic. By surface analysis, -phile + -ic. The correct English form is -philic, spelled --P-H-I-L-I-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonym of -philous.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos, “love”) + -ic. By surface analysis, -phile + -ic.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "-philic"?
"-philic" is spelled --P-H-I-L-I-C.
What does "-philic" mean?
As a suffix, "-philic" means: Synonym of -philous.
What is the origin of the word "-philic"?
From Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos, “love”) + -ic. By surface analysis, -phile + -ic. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list