# zoophile

Pronunciation: say "ZOH-uh-fyl" US /ˈzoʊ.ə.faɪl/, UK /ˈzəʊ.ə.faɪl/

## Noun

1. Someone who is sexually attracted to animals other than humans.
   - Simple: A person who feels sexual attraction to animals.
   - _The researchers surveyed self-identified zoophiles about when the attraction first appeared._
   - _Under the new law, a convicted zoophile may be banned from owning pets._
2. Someone whose moral principles give animals the same standing as human beings.
   - Simple: A person who believes animals matter as much as people when deciding what is right and wrong.
   - _The panel pitted a radical zoophile against a defender of animal research._
   - _Zoophiles in the ethics department reject any moral line between human and animal suffering._

## Adjective

3. Preferring an animal environment to live in, as some skin fungi do; used where zoophilic is the standard form.
   - Simple: Liking to live on or around animals. The standard word is zoophilic.
   - _The lab identified the culture as a zoophile dermatophyte, probably caught from the family's guinea pig._
   - _The vet warned that the zoophile fungus on the calves could spread to the farmhands._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Supporting policies favourable to animal lives. Misconstruction of zoophilic.

## Origin

Formed from zoo- + -phile.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/zoophile (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).