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A.Word.A.Day--ailurophile What to give to the person who has everything? Give the gift of words. Pronunciation: WAV or RealAudio ailurophile (eye-LOOR--uh-fyle, ay-LOOR-) noun One who loves cats. [Greek ailouros, cat + -phile.] "It's said in publishing that no cat book ever loses money. Maybe it's true: bibliophiles tend to be ailurophiles, and both are tenacious breeds." Toth, Emily, Meow mix, Women's Review of Books, 1 Jul 1995. One good way to learn words is to remember their roots and affixes. If you have ever prepared for one of those homogenized, normalized, standardized tests where they quiz you on your vocabulary to predict your aptitude for college, chances are you have already done this. Once you know the senses of prefixes and suffixes, it becomes rather easy to derive the meaning of a word. This week's AWAD features seven words derived from the following suffixes: -phile (love), -mania (excessive interest), -phobia (abnormal fear), -mancy (divination), -gamy (marriage), -logy (study), and -cracy (rule). -Anu X-Bonus When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam]

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