1888 Proc. BostonSoc. Nat. Hist. 22In studying the *Psiloceratites of Central Europe.
1820–30 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 33Schools of *psilology (the love of empty noise) and misosophy.
1884 Coues Key N.Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 88A more exact distinction may be drawn by using the terms ptilopædic and *psilopædic..respectively for those birds which are hatched feathered or naked.
1882 Ogilvie (Annandale) Suppl. ,*Psilosopher, a would-be or pretended philosopher.
1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. iii. (1882) 34 note,I was decried as a bigot by the proselytes of French Phi- (or to speak more truly, *Psi-)losophy.
Ibid. x. 85Their adoption of French morals with French psilosophy.
psilo-
before vowels psil-, word-forming element meaning "stripped, bare," from Greek psilos "bare, naked; mere," perhaps akin to psen "to rub," and both or either perhaps from PIE root *bhes- "to rub" (source also of Greek psamathos "sand;" see sand, n.).
psilo-
combining form
see psil-
see psil-