Dog-fancier does not equal cynophile?

July 3, 2007 10:26 AM

If an ailurophile is a fancier of cats, then what do you call a fancier of dogs?

Ailurophobia is a fear of cats, and cynophobia is a fear of dogs - so you would assume that cynophile would be the word to use.

But googling and searching says not. Are there any examples of cynophile being used in English?

posted by gomichild to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Best answer: "Cynophilist" is one. A bit of Googling turned up "canophilist" and "canophile" as well.
posted by cerebus19 at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2007

Best answer: Canophile sees a little use
posted by exogenous at 10:32 AM on July 3, 2007

Response by poster: Duh I was searching for "canine" + but it didn't occur to me to put those together.

Hindsight - it does make one blush.
posted by gomichild at 10:35 AM on July 3, 2007

Best answer: The OED has "canophilist" and from it "canophilia" back to 1879 and 1935, respectively.
posted by deeaytch at 10:43 AM on July 3, 2007

Since this has been nicely answered, I'll just say that I believe the technical term for a true cat lover is "Crazy Cat Lady". One (male or female) becomes a Crazy Cat Lady when the number of cats one cares for is greater than the number of rooms in one's home.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:24 PM on July 3, 2007