Philtre

Definition: a love potion, a magic solution.

Pronunciation: FIL-tur

Origin

This sweet noun, dated back to the 1580’s, stems from the Greek philtron meaning ‘love charm’, and literally- to make oneself beloved. The Greek verb phileiin means to love while the noun philos means loving.

An unrelated note:

All words ending with “phy” or “philia” stem from these loving terms as well; philosophy is the love for knowledge, pedophilia is the love for children (forgive me for this example), etc…

Why this word?

This word is here because it sounds like “filter”! I absolutely lover nice words that sound like other words that are not as nice…

Literally, it is indeed a love potion, but it is also used as a metaphor for easy solutions, free meals and all such that don’t really exist.

How to use the word philter?

Philter is a noun meaning a love potion; you can simply use it as such by saying “I really wish there was some sort of a philtre I could use to make John love me as I love him…”

Or you can use it metaphorically by saying “I told you, you would have to put in some effort to make this work between the two of you… There are no philtres when it comes to love!”