Dictionary

pedophilia en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌpi-/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /ˌpe.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/ (Australia)
• /ˌpɛ.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/ (US)
• /-ˈfi-/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/ (UK)

Etymology

Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Byzantine Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”).

Meanings

1. (US, countable, uncountable) Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.
   • Sometimes a man with pedophilia is content to stroke the child's hair, but he may also manipulate the child's genitalia, [...] 2009, Ann Kring, Sheri Johnson, Gerald C. Davison, Abnormal Psychology:
   • As noted earlier, pedophilia was cited as both an aggravating and a mitigating circumstance by trial judges, as was the absence of pedophilia. 2007, Margaret Mary Wright, Judicial decision making in child sexual abuse cases, page 122:
2. (US, broadly, countable, proscribed, uncountable) Sexual activity between adults and children; the act of child molestation.
   • Fifteen months later, a committee of the congregation found that he had sexually abused several boys within the congregation. […] The fact that Alger committed pedophilia at the age of thirty-four casts a shadow over his subsequent yearning for relationships with boys and young men, but there is no evidence of any later misconduct. 1998, Andrew L. Kaufman, Cardozo, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 25:
   • Entire books have been written about the role of scandal in US politics (Garment, 1992). Offenses include smoking marijuana, hiring illegal aliens, plagiarizing, sexually harassing others, engaging in pedophilia, […] 2005, Carol Weiss Lewis, Stuart Gilman, The ethics challenge in public service: a problem-solving guide, 2nd edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, →ISBN, page 88:
   • Although the Holy See publicly expressed its rejection of sexual abuse and pedophilia and expressed its commitment to cooperate with civil authorities when cases of pedophile priests were found¹², there are no known cases of bishops or cardinals, being found responsible for abusing children or covering up for pedophilia in their parishes. 2013 December 14, “Clerical Pedophilia by Mexicans in Mexico and Other Countries”, in CNN en Español, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2025, page 10:
   • It's quite another (a bad idea) to expect amateurs to figure out who is telling the truth about Iraq, or which priests have committed pedophilia. 2007 June 17, Todd Oppenheimer, “Read All about It -- but Where, Exactly?”, in SFGate, Hearst Communications:

Forms

Antonyms

teleiophilia

Coordinates

ephebophilia · teleiophilia · hebephilia · pederasty · korephilia

Hypernyms

paraphilia

Relateds

pedophile · pedophiliac · pedophilic

Synonyms

childlove · pedophilic disorder · pederosis · pedosexuality

Translations (69)

bg педофи́лия (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · hy պեդոֆիլիա (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ko 소아성애증 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · sv pedofili (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · uz pedofiliya (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ja ペドフィリア (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ru педофили́я (sexual acts between adults and children) · lv pedofilija (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fa پدوفیلی (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ur پیڈوفیلیا (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · vi ái nhi (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ms pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · tr sübyancılık (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ja 幼児好き (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · lt pedofilija (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · et pedofiilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ca pedofília (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · it pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fi pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · cmn 戀童癖 /恋童癖 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · da pædofili (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · kk педофилия (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ab апедофилиа (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · tr pedofili (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · sh pedofìlija (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · nl knapenliefde (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · sh педофѝлија (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · pl pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · nb pedofili (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · gl pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · pt pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fi pedofilia ((medicine) sexual feeling or desire by adults or older adolescents towards prepubescent children) · ja 小児性愛 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · hy մանկապղծություն (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · la paedophilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · es paidofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · cy pedoffilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · mk педофилија (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ko 어린이성애증 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · be педафілі́я (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · de Pädophilie (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · kl pedofili (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · el παιδοφιλία (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · hu pedofília (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ru педофили́я (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · es pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · id pedofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · tg педофилия (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fa کودککامی (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · cs pedofilie (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ga péidifilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · yi פּעדאָפֿיליע (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · it paidofilia (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · nl pedofilie (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · mt pedofelija (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · sl pedofilija (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · uk педофілі́я (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ko 페도필리아 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · az pedofiliya (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ja 児童性愛 (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · he פֶּדוֹפִילְיָה (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · sk pedofília (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fi pedofilia (sexual acts between adults and children) · pt pedofilia (sexual acts between adults and children) · ro pedofilie (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ka პედოფილია (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · fr pédophilie (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ky педофилия (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children) · ab ахәыҷыбзиабара (sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children)

wikipedia: pedophilia