Also ‑phobic and ‑phobe.
Extreme or irrational fear or dislike.
Greek phobia, fear or horror.
A large number of words using this ending have been created in modern psychiatry and related fields. It is possibly also the most fecund in the language for humorous invention, as in arachibutyrophobia, fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (from the genus name of the peanut, Arachis, plus Latin butyrum, butter). See the list below for some common examples.
Related adjectives are formed in ‑phobic (claustrophobic, technophobic). Nouns in ‑phobe describe a person affected by the condition (arachnophobe, xenophobe).
For their opposites, see ‑phile.
Examples of words in -phobia
Word origins are from Greek unless otherwise stated.
acrophobia
heights
akros, tip or extremity
agoraphobia
open spaces
agora, marketplace
arachnophobia
spiders
arakhnē, spider
claustrophobia
enclosed spaces
Latin claustrum, a confined or shut-up space
computerphobia
computers or computing
English computer
homophobia
homosexuality and homosexual people
homos, same
hydrophobia
water, but especially rabies, whose sufferers typically experience great difficulty in swallowing
hudōr, water
Islamophobia
Islam or Muslims
English Islam
neophobia
the new
neos, new
phonophobia
sound or noises
phōnē, sound, voice
photophobia
extreme sensitivity to light
phōs, phōt‑, light
triskaidekaphobia
the number 13
treiskaideka, thirteen
xenophobia
strangers
xenos, stranger
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Your comments are very welcome.