[word] philately 集邮
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philately fuh-LAT-uh-lee (noun) : the collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps : stamp collecting Example sentence: Mark's been interested in philately since he was a kid, so he was thrilled to learn that a huge postage stamp exhibition was coming to town. Did you know? Who wouldn't love something tax free? George Herpin did. He was a French stamp fancier back in the 1860s, when stamps were a fairly new invention. Before stamps, the recipient of a letter -- not the sender -- had to pay the postage. Stamps forced the sender to foot the bill, and created a lot of stamp lovers among folks on the receiving end of the mail -- and a mania for stamp collecting. "Timbromania" was toyed with as a term to affix to this new hobby -- from the French word for stamp, "timbre." But when Herpin suggested "philatelie" (anglicized to "philately"), combining the Greek root "phil-," meaning "loving," with Greek "ateleia," meaning "tax-exemption," stamp lovers everywhere took a fancy to it and the name stuck. |
