before vowels phil-, word-forming element meaning "loving, fond of, tending to," from Greek philos (adj.) "dear, loved, beloved," as a noun, "friend," from philein "to love, regard with affection," a word of unknown origin. Productive of a great many compounds in ancient Greek (such as philokybos "a lover of dice-play"). Opposed to miso-. Compare -phile.

"pretender to philosophical knowledge," 1610s, from philosophy + -aster.

"pertaining to philosophy," mid-15c., philosophik, from Old French filosofique (Modern French philosophique) and directly from Late Latin philosophicus, from Greek philosophikos, from philosophia "philosophy" (see philosophy).

late 14c., "learned, skilled in learning;" c. 1500 as "related or belonging to philosophy or philosophers;" see philosophy + -ical. Related: Philosophically.

"a would-be philosopher," a disparaging term for a rationalist or skeptic, a philosophe; 1798, from French philosophiste; see philosophy + -ist.

"to think and reason about the subjects of philosophy; to meditate upon the fundamental principles of being or knowledge," 1590s, from philosophy + -ize. Related: Philosophized; philosophizing. The earlier verb was simply philosophy (late 14c., philosophien).