It鈥檚 likely that you know someone who might be a听shopaholic.
Perhaps you think they have a superhuman stamina for long lines, crowded malls, and late-night purchasing. Or perhaps they just don鈥檛 know when to quit, spending way past their budget.
What is a shopaholic?
Shopaholic is an informal term usually applied with humor. It dates back to the 1940s, when it emerged as a combination of听shop 补苍诲听-aholic. The word 蝉丑辞辫听comes from the听Old English term听sceoppa听(“stall, booth”) and is related to the听Middle Dutch schoppe听(“stall”). The combining form -aholic is based on alcoholic and denotes 鈥渁 person who has an addiction to or obsession with some object or activity.”
鈿狅笍听Please note: The term alcoholic and its derivations that use the form -aholic (e.g., workaholic) are sometimes considered offensive; referring to people with addictions as addicts or alcoholics reduces them to a label鈥攐ne that has long connoted moral failure and weakness of character鈥攁nd to a single trait. You can learn more about the recent changes we made to our definition of alcoholic here.听
What is the medical term for a shopaholic?
There is, though, an actual medical term for people who have an uncontrollable听and compulsive desire to shop: oniomania.
Oniomania comes from the Greek onios, which means 鈥渇or sale,鈥� and mania, which means 鈥渋nsanity.鈥�
Examples of the word shopaholic
Some of you may recognize the word from the popular book series from the 2000s by Sophie Kinsella. The series has 10 books鈥攐ne of which has been made into a movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic鈥攁nd follows the adventures of devout shopper Becky Bloomwood. As Becky herself says in the first novel, “Shopping is actually very similar to farming a field. You can’t keep buying the same thing, you have to have a bit of variety. Otherwise you get bored and stop enjoying yourself.鈥�
Here are examples of the word 蝉丑辞辫补丑辞濒颈肠听in use:
- “Bernadine had told Savannah that the girl was a die-hard shopaholic听and terrible at managing her money.” (Waiting to Exhale, 1992)
- “In addition to perpetual feelings of ennui, the materialist runs the risk of burgeoning into a full-blown shopaholic, a person so obsessed with buying that they fall into debt and suffer dire personal consequences.” (Psychology Today, May/June 2007)
- “My boyfriend’s mother drives me bananas. She’s a shopaholic, status-conscious snob, and I guess I’m not up to her standards because she’s forever finding ways to insult me.” (Cosmopolitan, August 2002)
Compulsive shopping hasn鈥檛 been studied to the same extent as other dependencies or addictions. However, some people consider it to be a very serious and widespread problem that can cause grave social, financial, and emotional effects. And, again, note that some people may find听蝉丑辞辫补丑辞濒颈肠听offensive鈥攁nd recommending not using it and other -(a)holic blends words鈥攁s it can be seen to make light of addiction and related diseases and disorders and the people who experience them.
The language we use can be costly as well. That’s why we choose to avoid the term addict. Read about why that matters here.
