cartophile means A person with an interest in maps. It carries an Arena rating of 1461, earned across 58 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cartophile ranks #3,667 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #4,197 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #5,510 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #6,172 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
Why “cartophile” is a great word
CARTOPHILE — [Noun] A person who has an ardent interest in or love for maps. From the combining form carto- (from French carte, ultimately from Latin charta, "paper, map") + -phile (from Greek -philos, "loving"). Unlike a cartographer, who crafts the territory, or a cartophilist, who hunts for ephemeral trade cards, a cartophile is a connoisseur of the drafted image itself. It is the slow crackle of unfolding a linen-backed chart; tracing a fingertip over the raised peaks of a topographic survey; losing an afternoon in the elegant, inked possibility of all places—a quiet romance with the fragile, paper ghosts of the world, each a frozen argument about how it is, or was, or might be.
Etymology
From carto- (“map”) + -phile.
noun
- A person with an interest in maps.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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