Dictionary

philately en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /fɪˈlæt.ə.li/
• (UK) audio

Etymology

First use appears c. 1865. Borrowed from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin in 1864 (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864), from Ancient Greek φιλέω (philéō, “I love”) + ἀτέλεια (atéleia), the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp", from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + τέλος (télos, “tax”). This word serves as a reminder of the original function of postage stamps, now often forgotten: the cost of letter-carrying formerly was paid by the recipient; stamps indicated it had been prepaid by the sender, and thus the letters were "carriage-free".

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Stamp collecting.
2. (countable, uncountable) The study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.

Forms

Deriveds

philatelical · paraphilately · astrophilately · philatelic · philatelist · philatelism · prephilately · philatelics · marcophily · air philately · philatelically · aerophilately · bibliophilately · biophilately

Translations (51)

nl filatelie (stamp collecting) · nb filateli (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · fi postimerkkien keräily (stamp collecting) · de Briefmarkenkunde (stamp collecting) · uk філателі́я (stamp collecting) · nb frimerkesamling (stamp collecting) · sv filateli (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · da filateli (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · br timbrouriezh (stamp collecting) · is frímerkjasöfnun (stamp collecting) · bg филателия (stamp collecting) · da filateli (stamp collecting) · lv filatelija (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · pt filatelia (stamp collecting) · fi filatelia (stamp collecting) · hu filatélia (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · pl filatelistyka (stamp collecting) · ru филатели́я (stamp collecting) · lv filatelija (stamp collecting) · bg филателия (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · es filatelia (stamp collecting) · tr filateli (stamp collecting) · hu bélyegtudomány (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · hu bélyeggyűjtés (stamp collecting) · cs filatelie (stamp collecting) · pl filatelistyka (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · fi postimerkkeily (stamp collecting) · da frimærkesamling (stamp collecting) · de Philatelie (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · cmn 郵票研究 /邮票研究 (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · fi filatelia (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · ru филатели́я (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · fr philatélie (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · es filatelia (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · sv frimärkssamling (stamp collecting) · fr collection de timbres (stamp collecting) · et filateelia (stamp collecting) · nn filateli (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · tr pulculuk (stamp collecting) · pt filatelia (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · it filatelia (stamp collecting) · it filatelia (the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.) · ja 切手収集 (stamp collecting) · sv frimärkssamlande (stamp collecting) · fr philatélie (stamp collecting) · ca filatèlia (stamp collecting) · cmn 集郵 /集邮 (stamp collecting) · de Philatelie (stamp collecting) · nn frimerkesamling (stamp collecting) · ru коллекциони́рование ма́рок (stamp collecting) · sv filateli (stamp collecting)