Standard Lemma guide

philately

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /fɪˈlæt.ə.li/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F IH0 L AE1 T AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Stamp collecting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the collection and study of postage stamps

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: stamp collecting, stamp collection

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: collection, collecting, assembling, aggregation

Narrower terms: aerophilately

History

Etymology

First use appears c. 1865. Borrowed from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (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 pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were “carriage-free”.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Breton: timbrouriezh — stamp collecting
  • Bulgarian: филателия (filatelija) — stamp collecting
  • Catalan: filatèlia — stamp collecting
  • Chinese Mandarin: 集郵 /集邮 (jíyóu) — stamp collecting
  • Czech: filatelie — stamp collecting
  • Danish: filateli — stamp collecting
  • Danish: frimærkesamling — stamp collecting
  • Dutch: filatelie — stamp collecting
  • Estonian: filateelia — stamp collecting
  • Finnish: filatelia — stamp collecting
  • Finnish: postimerkkeily — stamp collecting
  • Finnish: postimerkkien keräily — stamp collecting
  • French: philatélie — stamp collecting
  • French: collection de timbres — stamp collecting
  • German: Philatelie — stamp collecting
  • German: Briefmarkenkunde — stamp collecting
  • Hungarian: bélyeggyűjtés — stamp collecting
  • Icelandic: frímerkjasöfnun — stamp collecting
  • Italian: filatelia — stamp collecting
  • Japanese: 切手収集 (kitteshūshū) — stamp collecting
  • Latvian: filatelija — stamp collecting
  • Norwegian Bokmål: frimerkesamling — stamp collecting
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: frimerkesamling — stamp collecting
  • Polish: filatelistyka — stamp collecting
  • Portuguese: filatelia — stamp collecting
  • Russian: филатели́я (filatɛlíja) — stamp collecting
  • Russian: коллекциони́рование ма́рок (kollekcionírovanije márok) — stamp collecting
  • Spanish: filatelia — stamp collecting
  • Swedish: filateli — stamp collecting
  • Swedish: frimärkssamlande — stamp collecting
  • Swedish: frimärkssamling — stamp collecting
  • Turkish: filateli — stamp collecting
  • Turkish: pulculuk — stamp collecting
  • Ukrainian: філателі́я (filatelíja) — stamp collecting
  • Bulgarian: филателия (filatelija) — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Chinese Mandarin: 郵票研究 /邮票研究 (yóupiào yánjiū) — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Danish: filateli — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Finnish: filatelia — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • French: philatélie — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • German: Philatelie — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Hungarian: filatélia — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Hungarian: bélyegtudomány — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Italian: filatelia — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Latvian: filatelija — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Norwegian Bokmål: filateli — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: filateli — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Polish: filatelistyka — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Portuguese: filatelia — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Russian: филатели́я (filatɛlíja) — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Spanish: filatelia — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.
  • Swedish: filateli — the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.