Ephebophilia
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A sexual preference for adolescent boys. dated, uncountable
"The assertion, often naïvely made, that in the Homeric poems there is as yet no trace of the love of boys to be met with, and that it was a phenomenon which first appeared during the so-called decadence is, in my opinion, false, for I have already shown in an earlier work (in Anthropophyteia, ix, pp. 291 ff.) that the bond of friendship between Achilles and Patroclus (the most important passages are Il., xxiii, 84; ix, 186, 663; xviii, 22 ff., 65, 315, 334; xix, 209, 315), however ideal it was, yet contains a high percentage of homoerotic sentiment and action; that the Homeric epos also abounds in undoubted traces of ephebophilia, and that no one in the ancient times of Greece ever supposed otherwise."
- 2 Primary adult sexual attraction towards postpubescent adolescents, usually between 15 and 19 years old. uncountable
Example
More examples"The assertion, often naïvely made, that in the Homeric poems there is as yet no trace of the love of boys to be met with, and that it was a phenomenon which first appeared during the so-called decadence is, in my opinion, false, for I have already shown in an earlier work (in Anthropophyteia, ix, pp. 291 ff.) that the bond of friendship between Achilles and Patroclus (the most important passages are Il., xxiii, 84; ix, 186, 663; xviii, 22 ff., 65, 315, 334; xix, 209, 315), however ideal it was, yet contains a high percentage of homoerotic sentiment and action; that the Homeric epos also abounds in undoubted traces of ephebophilia, and that no one in the ancient times of Greece ever supposed otherwise."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “adolescent”) + φιλία (philía, “love, friendship”). By surface analysis, ephebe + -philia.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.