Holic

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Used as a suffix to describe someone who is excessively devoted to or addicted to a particular activity or substance
2. Forms words naming a person who is compulsively drawn to, or unable to stop indulging in, a specified thing
3. Denotes a individual who is intensely obsessed with, or dependent on, whatever the attached word refers to

Etymology: "-holic" is a combining form that English took from "alcoholic" and then used as a free-standing suffix, so the word "holic" is essentially a back-formation. The original word "alcoholic" came into English in the early 19th century, derived from "alcohol," which itself came through Medieval Latin from Arabic "al-kuhl," a fine powder used as eye cosmetic, later applied to distilled spirits. The shift began in the 20th century, when writers started attaching "-holic" to other nouns to mean someone addicted to or obsessed with that thing. "Shopaholic" is among the earliest and most familiar examples, and the pattern spread quickly to "workaholic," "chocoholic," and many others. Speakers began treating the ending as a productive suffix, so that any appetite could be given the same treatment. The suffix sense has been stripped down into a bare form, so that "holic" by itself now simply means one who is obsessively devoted to something.