-mania is a word element that appears in a number of Modern English words, denoting some kind of madness or craziness. It is relatively unchanged from its Greek origin: mania, meaning ‘madness’, ‘frenzy’, ‘enthusiasm’, ‘mad passion’, ‘fury’.
Below are some existing words that end in -mania.
| Word | Meaning and Etymology |
| megalomania | ‘delusions of greatness’, from Greek megalo-, meaning ‘great’, ‘exaggerated’ – often nowadays used to mean ‘obsession with power’ |
| kleptomania | ‘an obsession with stealing’, from Greek kleptes, meaning ‘thief’ |
| bibliomania | ‘a madness for books’, ‘an obsession with collecting rare or unusual books’, from Greek biblio-, meaning ‘book’ – this one is very useful for writers |
| mythomania | not used to mean ‘an obsession with stories’ (though perhaps it should be – this is a better fit for the word etymologically), but instead ‘a compulsion to lie’ – from Greek mythos, meaning ‘speech’, ‘thought’, ‘word’, ‘discourse’, ‘story’, ‘myth’ |
| pyromania | ‘an obsession with destroying things with fire’, from Greek pyro-, meaning ‘fire’ |
| graphomania | ‘an obsession with writing’, from Greek graph-, meaning ‘writing’ – another good one for writers |
| phonomania | not ‘an obsession with sound’, as one might expect, but ‘an obsession with murder’, from Greek phonē, phonos, meaning ‘killing’, ‘murder’ |
| logomania | ‘an obsession with words’, from Greek logos, meaning ‘speech’, ‘word’, ‘reason’ – another good one for writers |
| hippomania | ‘an obsession with horses’, from Greek hippo-, meaning ‘horse’ |
| anthomania | ‘an obsession with flowers’, from Greek anthos, meaning ‘flower’ |
| plutomania | ‘an obsession with wealth’, ‘a mad desire for wealth’, from Greek ploutos, meaning ‘wealth’ – a very useful one for the modern day |
| monomania | ‘an obsession with one thing’, from Greek monos, meaning ‘one’ |
All of these words can be changed into nouns that refer to a person who has the mania, of course. A hippomaniac is someone who really likes horses. An anthomaniac is someone who really likes flowers. They can also be changed to adjectives. If someone keeps buying books even though they haven’t read all the ones they’ve already got, they are being bibliomaniacal.
But are there any other words, as yet unused, that could be formed in this way? The table below lists a few that I’ve thought of.
| Word | Meaning and Etymology |
| ailuromania | ‘an obsession with cats’, from Greek ailouros, meaning ‘cat’ – this one could apply to a lot of us |
| cynomania | ‘an obsession with dogs’, from Greek kyno-, meaning ‘dog’ |
| cinemamania | could be ‘an obsession with movies’ or ‘an obsession with moving’, from Greek kinema, meaning ‘movement’ (from which we get the modern-day term ‘cinema’) |
| theatromania | ‘an obsession with the theatre’ – could be someone who really likes going to watch things at the theatre, or someone who really likes acting – from Greek theatron, from which we get the modern word ‘theatre’ |
| technomania | ‘an obsession with new technology’ – using the modern element techno-, which was originally from Greek techne, meaning ‘art’, but the modern element is associated with electronic devices |
| ecomania | could be ‘an obsession with one’s house – in particular an obsession with keeping it tidy’ – from Greek oikos, meaning ‘house’, ‘dwelling’, from which we also get ‘economy’ |
I might add more to this list over time.