-phobia 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 |
| chemophobia | chemotherapy | see chemo- |
| claustrophobia | enclosed spaces | Latin claustrum, a confined or shut-up space |
| computerphobia | computers or computing | English computer |
| cyberphobia | computers or technology | see cyber- |
| 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 |
| Russophobia | Russians or Russia | see Russo- |
| technophobia | technology | see techno- |
| triskaidekaphobia | the number 13 | treiskaideka, thirteen |
| xenophobia | strangers | xenos, stranger |
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