Rhinotillexomania
//ˌɹaɪnəʊtɪˌlɛksəˈmeɪniə// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Compulsive nose-picking; the insertion of a finger into one's nose. uncountable
Etymology
From rhino- (“nose, nasal”) + Latin tillexis (“habit of plucking”, see below) + -o- + -mania (“obsession”). The tillexis stem is seemingly a New Latin borrowing from Ancient Greek τίλλω (tíllō, “I pluck or pull”). There is a divergence regarding the exo affix. It is suggested it may derive from ἔξω (éxō, “out”) or έξη (éxē, “habit”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.