Word of the Day

: June 30, 2009

oenophile

noun EE-nuh-fyle

What It Means

: a lover or connoisseur of wine

oenophile in Context

Only an astute oenophile like Simon would know that 2002 was not the best year for that particular Barolo.

Did You Know?

"It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth," wrote the 1st-century A.D. Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder. The truth about the word "wine" is that it goes back to Latin "vinum," but it is also a distant relative of the Greek word for wine, which is "oinos." Indeed, Latin borrowed from the Greek to create a combining form that means "wine," "oeno-." Modern French speakers combined "oeno-" with "-phile" (Greek for "lover of") to create "oenophile" before we adopted it from them around 1930. Etymologically-inclined oenophiles are sure to know that "oenology," for the science of wine making, and "oenologist," for one versed in oenology (more often spelled "enology" and "enologist") also trace back to the Greek root.