philander

English

WOTD – 27 June 2012, 27 June 2013, 27 June 2014, 27 June 2015

Etymology

As a verb, first seen in the 1824 play Philandering: Or, The Rose Queen, by Samuel Beazley. From the given name Philander, used for love interest or suitor stock characters in several 18th century stories and poems, from Ancient Greek Φίλανδρος (Phílandros), name of the mythological son of the nymph Acacallis and the god Apollo. Semantically disconnected from the adjective φίλανδρος (phílandros, “loving one’s husband; excessively attracted to males, slutty, boy crazy”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlændə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlændəɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: phi‧lan‧der

Noun

philander (plural philanders)

1. A lover.
   • 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     Yes, I'll baste you together, you and your Philander!

2. A South American opossum, bare-tailed woolly opossum, of species Caluromys philander (syn. Didelphis philander).
3. (obsolete) A greater bilby, an Australian marsupial of species Macrotis lagotis (syn. Perameles lagotis).

Derived terms

• philanderess
• philanderous

Related terms

• filander

Translations

lover — see lover

Caluromys philander

• Finnish: philanderinvillapussirotta, venezuelanvillaopossumi

Macrotis lagotis

• Finnish: isopussikaniini, isokorvapusseli
• Swedish: större kaninpunggrävling c

Further reading

• philander on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

philander (third-person singular simple present philanders, present participle philandering, simple past and past participle philandered)

1. (intransitive) To woo women; to play the male flirt.
   • 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Daniel Deronda, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     You can't be philandering after her again.

Synonyms

• womanize, womanise

Derived terms

• philanderer, philandering

Translations

To make love to women; to play the male flirt

• Bulgarian: флиртувам (bg) (flirtuvam)
• Estonian: liiderdama
• Hebrew: הִתְפַּרְפֵּר (he) (hitparpér) (slang)
• Portuguese: flirtar (pt)
• Russian: флиртовать (ru) (flirtovatʹ)