-aholic

1. a combining form extracted from alcoholic, occurring as the final element in compounds, often facetious nonce words, with the sense “a person who has an addiction to or obsession with some object or activity”:

   workaholic; chargeaholic.

Word History and Origins

Origin of -aholic¹

By extraction, with a replacing o as the spelling of the unstressed vowel

Words That Use -aholic

What does -aholic mean?

The combining form –aholic is used like a suffix meaning “a person who has an addiction to or obsession with some object or activity.” It is occasionally used in slang and “nonce words,” that is, words coined and used only for a particular occasion.

The form –aholic is derived from the ending of alcoholic, a sometimes offensive term for a person with alcoholism or alcohol use disorder. The term alcoholic and its derivations that use the form –aholic are sometimes considered offensive; referring to people with addictions as addicts or alcoholics reduces them to a label—one that has long connoted moral failure and weakness of character—and to a single trait. You can learn more about the recent changes we made to our definition of alcoholic here.

What are variants of –aholic?

When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, the form –aholic becomes –holic, as in chocoholic. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article about –holic.

Examples of -aholic

An example of a word you may have encountered that features –aholic is workaholic, “a person who works compulsively at the expense of other pursuits.”

The work– portion of workaholic refers to “work,” and the suffix –aholic means “a person who has an addiction to some activity.” Workaholic therefore indicates “a person who has an addiction to work.”

What are some words that use the combining form –aholic?

• foodaholic
• rageaholic
• sexaholic
• sleepaholic
• tanaholic

What are some other forms that –aholic may be commonly confused with?

• -amic
• helic-

Break it down!

Given the meaning of –aholic, what kind of person could be described as a foodaholic?