Philately is the collecting and study of postage stamps. Take up philately, a philately society, the philately collection.
The name was coined in French in 1864 and is a strange one, since it means love of things carrying no tax, from the idea that a stamp shows the postage was already paid. Collectors say stamp collecting in ordinary speech.
1nounphilatelyThe collecting and study of postage stamps.
“My grandfather's hobby was philately, and he kept his stamps in dozens of albums.”
philately is a hobby.
Coined in French in 1864 from Greek philos, loving, plus ateles, free of charge, since a stamp shows postage already paid.
French
philatélie
English, today
philately
Built from
First use appears 1865. Borrowed from French philatélie, coined by Georges Herpin in 1864 (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864), from Ancient Greek - φιλέω (“I love”) + ἀτέλεια, the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp", from ἀ- (“without”) + τέλος (“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 prepaid by the sender, and thus the letters were "carriage-free".
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA