lexicomania means A great enthusiasm for words or dictionaries. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “lexicomania” is a great word
An obsessive, consuming enthusiasm for words or dictionaries. From lexico- (relating to words or lexicons) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze). Unlike lexicophilia (which suggests a measured, fond appreciation) or logomania (which denotes a compulsive need to speak), lexicomania is the quiet, acquisitive fever for the catalog itself. It is the compulsive tracing of a finger down a dusty column of definitions, the illicit thrill of discovering a new obsolete synonym at three in the morning, and the private hoard of exotic lexical specimens—a devotion to the silent, ordered cathedral of language where to possess the name for a thing is to hold a shard of the world itself.
Etymology
From lexico- + -mania.
noun
- A great enthusiasm for words or dictionaries.