BehindTheMedspeak: Tanorexia — Episode 2: Tanophilia

A recent comment by Frank Fitton on Episode 1 (August 30, 2005) led me to revisit it.

In the course of doing so I realized the word "tanorexia," used colloquially to describe an addiction to tanning, is not the correct word for this compulsion.

As noted in the earlier post, "The word 'tanorexia' has Greek roots; the word 'anorexia' derives from the Greek an– 'without' + orexis 'appetite, desire.'"

Adding a "t" doesn't change the basics of etymology.

The 2005 post continued, "People who just can't stay out of the sun also are called tanaholics."

That's correct.

A synonym would be tanophilia.

Not nearly as catchy as tanorexic but it does offer the benefit of being correct.