Header image of wall of bricks Open menu Close menu

-mania

Also ‑maniac and ‑mane.

Mental abnormality or obsession; extreme enthusiasm or admiration.

Greek mania, madness.

The ending is common in psychiatry to name various kinds of mental problems (megalomania, nymphomania) as is mania itself as a general term. For more details and examples, see the list below.

It is also used more loosely for an enthusiasm such that those showing it seem almost unbalanced; examples here include Beatlemania, balletomania, and Anglomania (excessive admiration of English customs). In this sense, the ending is frequently used in journalism to create words for short-term purposes, as in Euro-mania, enthusiasm for European integration regarded as excessive, or lotterymania, an extreme desire to take part in lotteries.

Someone exhibiting such characteristics, in either sense, can be described by a word ending in ‑maniac (dipsomaniac, megalomaniac, nymphomaniac), or, more rarely, by one ending in ‑mane, of which the only common example is balletomane.

Examples that seem to contain the ending through accidents of spelling include leishmania, a single-celled parasitic protozoan (from the proper name Leishman), and some names of countries: Romania, Tasmania.

Examples of words in -mania
Word origins are from Greek unless otherwise stated.

Beatlemania

frenzied enthusiasm for the 1960s pop group the Beatles

 

bibliomania

passionate enthusiasm for collecting and possessing books

biblion, book

egomania

obsessive egotism or self-centredness

Latin ego, I

erotomania

excessive sexual desire

erōs, erōt‑, sexual love

hypomania

a mild form of mania, marked by elation and hyperactivity

hupo, under

kleptomania

a recurrent urge to steal

kleptēs, thief

megalomania

obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others

megas, megal‑, great

metromania

a mania for writing poetry

metron, metre

monomania

exaggerated or obsessive enthusiasm for or preoccupation with one thing

monos, alone

nymphomania

uncontrollable or excessive sexual desire in a woman

Latin nympha, nymph

pyromania

an obsessive desire to set fire to things

pur, fire

trichotillomania

a compulsive desire to pull out one's hair

thrix, trikho‑, hair, plus tillesthai, to pull out

tulipomania

a craze for tulips, especially that in Holland in the seventeenth century

English tulip

Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Your comments are very welcome.