Canophilia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An intense affection for dogs, expressed through a strong attraction to them as pets and companions
2. A deep fondness or devotion toward canines, marked by enthusiasm for keeping and caring for them
3. The state of loving dogs, a passion that draws a person toward these animals and their company

Etymology: "Canophilia" is built from the combining form "cano-", meaning "dog", which comes from Latin "canis", plus "-philia", from Greek "philia", meaning "love" or "fondness". Put together, it names a fondness for dogs. The pairing is a piecewise doublet of "cynophilia", meaning the two words were formed from different routes to the same Greek-derived sense: "cyno-" comes from Greek "kyon", "dog", while "cano-" takes its dog-meaning from the Latin word. Because the two forms were built in parallel from the same classical elements, they exist side by side rather than one being borrowed from the other. Readers who meet "canophilia" and "cynophilia" are looking at two coinages that carry the same meaning and differ only in which dog-root they draw on.