Philander
//fɪˈlændə// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A lover.
"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 A greater bilby, an Australian marsupial of species Macrotis lagotis (syn. Perameles lagotis). obsolete
Verb
- 1 To woo women; to play the male flirt. intransitive
"You can't be philandering after her again."
- 2 talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions wordnet
- 3 have amorous affairs; of men wordnet
Example
More examples"Yes, I'll baste you together, you and your Philander!"
Etymology
From the given name Philander, used as a name for flirtatious characters in several 18th century stories, 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”).
Related phrases
More for "philander"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.