oenophile

noun

oe·​no·​phile ˈē-nə-ˌfī(-ə)l 

: a lover or connoisseur of wine

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 in the mid-1800s. Oenophiles are sure to know oenology (now more often spelled enology) as the science of wine making and oenologist (now more often enologist) for one versed in oenology.

Examples of oenophile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Also of note is the fact that oenophiles are becoming younger and younger: Millennials made up 30 percent of all buyers in the auction. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 June 2024

In the United States, Wine Spectator, the leading magazine for oenophiles, began publication. —Clay Risen, New York Times, 3 June 2024

For individual oenophiles, this is technically good news: At the moment, there is a wide variety of choices at low prices. —Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week Us, theweek, 9 Apr. 2024

Calling all oenophiles: The Breckenridge Wine Classic is for you. —Sarah Kuta, The Denver Post, 21 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

French œnophile, from œno- (from Greek oinos wine) + -phile -phile — more at wine

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above

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