16.1.09
Phobia
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The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (of Greek origin: φόβος/φοβία ) occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g., agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g., hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g., acidophobia), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e.g., photophobia). In common usage they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject. The suffix is antonymic to -phil-.
Many people apply the suffix -phobia inappropriately to mild or irrational fears with no serious substance; however, earlier senses relate to psychiatry which studies serious phobias which disable a person's life. For more information on the psychiatric side of this, including how psychiatry groups phobias as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia.
The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include fears that have acquired names. In many cases people have coined these words as neologisms, and only a few of them occur in the medical literature. In many cases, the naming of phobias has become a word game, of notable example being a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.1
Note too that no things, substances, or even concepts exist which someone, somewhere may not fear, sometimes irrationally so. A list of all possible phobias would run into many thousands.
Most of these terms tack the suffix -phobia onto a Greek word for the object of the fear (some use a combination of a Latin root with the Greek suffix, which many classicists consider linguistically impure).
In some cases (particularly the less medically-oriented usages), a word ending in -phobia may have an antonym with the suffix -phil-, e.g., Germanophobe / Germanophile.
See also the category:Phobias.
Phobia lists
A large number of-phobia lists circulate on the Internet, with words collected from indiscriminate sources, often copying each other. Also, a number of psychiatric websites exist that at the first glance cover a huge number of phobias, but in fact use a standard text to fit any phobia and reuse it for all unusual phobias by merely changing the name. Sometimes it leads to bizarre results, such as suggestions to cure "prostitute phobia".2 Such practice is known as content spamming and is used to attract search engines.
Psychological conditions
In many cases specialists prefer to avoid the suffix -phobia and use more descriptive terms, see, e.g., personality disorders, anxiety disorders, avoidant personality disorder, love-shyness.
- Ablutophobia — fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning.
- Acrophobia, Altophobia — fear of heights.
- Agoraphobia, without Panic Disorder — fear of places or events where escape is impossible or when help is unavailable.
- Agraphobia — fear of sexual abuse.
- Algophobia — fear of pain.
- Anglophobia — fear of the English or English culture.
- Anthropophobia — fear of people or being in a company, a form of social phobia.
- Anthrophobia — fear of flowers.
- Aquaphobia, Hydrophobia — fear of water.
- Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Brontophobia, Keraunophobia — fear of thunder, lightning and storms; especially common in young children.
- Autophobia — fear of being alone.
- Aviophobia, Aviatophobia — fear of flying.
- Bacillophobia, Bacteriophobia, Microbiophobia — fear of microbes and bacteria.
- Blood-injection-injury type phobia — a DSM-IV subtype of specific phobias
- Cibophobia, Sitophobia — aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa.
- Claustrophobia — fear of confined spaces.
- Coulrophobia — fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns).
- Decidophobia — fear of making decisions.
- Dental phobia, Dentophobia, Odontophobia — fear of dentists and dental procedures.
- Dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder — a phobic obsession with a real or imaginary body defect.
- Emetophobia — fear of vomiting.
- Ergasiophobia, Ergophobia — fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating.
- Ergophobia — fear of work or functioning.
- Erotophobia — fear of sexual love or sexual questions.
- Erythrophobia — pathological blushing.
- Gephyrophobia — fear of bridges.
- Genophobia, Coitophobia — fear of sexual intercourse.
- Glossophobia — fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
- Gymnophobia — fear of nudity.
- Gynophobia — fear of women.
- Haptephobia — fear of being touched.
- Heliophobia — fear of sunlight.
- Hemophobia, Haemophobia — fear of blood.
- Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — fear of the number 666.
- Hoplophobia — fear of weapons, specifically firearms (Generally a political term but the clinical phobia is also documented).
- Ligyrophobia — fear of loud noises.
- Lipophobia — fear/avoidance of fats in food.
- Mysophobia — fear of germs, contamination or dirt.
- Necrophobia — fear of death, the dead.
- Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia — fear of newness, novelty.
- Nomophobia — fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
- Nosophobia — fear of contracting a disease.
- Nyctophobia, Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia — fear of darkness.
- Osmophobia, Olfactophobia — fear of smells.
- Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paraskevidekatriaphobia, Friggatriskaidekaphobia — fear of Friday the 13th.
- Panphobia — fear of everything or constantly afraid without knowing what is causing it.
- Phagophobia — fear of swallowing.
- Phonophobia — fear of loud sounds.
- Pyrophobia — fear of fire.
- Radiophobia — fear of radioactivity or X-rays.
- Sociophobia — fear of people or social situations
- Scopophobia — fear of being looked at or stared at.
- Somniphobia — fear of sleep.
- Spectrophobia — fear of mirrors and one's own reflections.
- Taphophobia — fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive.
- Technophobia — fear of technology (see also Luddite).
- Tetraphobia — fear of the number 4.
- Tokophobia — fear of childbirth.
- Tomophobia — fear or anxiety of surgeries/surgical operations.
- Traumatophobia — a synonym for injury phobia, a fear of having an injury
- Trichophobia — fear caused of loose hairs on clothing or elsewhere.
- Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia — fear of the number 13.
- Trypanophobia, Aichmophobia, Belonephobia, Enetophobia — fear of needles or injections.
- Xenophobia — fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens.
Zoophobias
- Ailurophobia — fear/dislike of cats
- Apiphobia, Melissophobia — fear/dislike of bees
- Arachnophobia — fear/dislike of spiders
- Chiroptophobia — fear/dislike of bats
- Cynophobia — fear/dislike of dogs
- Entomophobia — fear/dislike of insects
- Equinophobia, Hippophobia — fear/dislike of horses
- Ichthyophobia — fear/dislike of fish
- Musophobia — fear/dislike of mice and/or rats
- Ophidiophobia — fear/dislike of snakes
- Ornithophobia — fear/dislike of birds
- Ranidaphobia — fear/dislike of frogs
- Zoophobia — a generic term for animal phobias
Non-psychological conditions
The following medical conditions have nothing to do with irrational fears. However, each usually has a psychological disorder of the same name which is an irrational fear. The behavior of an individual with the medical condition can be similar to the behavior of an individual with the psychological disorder of the same name (e.g., for both usages of Photophobia the person avoids light). The difference in usage is that for the medical term there is an underlying physiological condition that results in the behavior. For example, with medical Photophobia the hypersensitivity to light is sufficient such that at some light levels the person experiences pain which they avoid by seeking darkness. Removing the physiological cause of the hypersensitivity to light results in the person no longer avoiding light. With psychological Photophobia the person fears the light even though there is no current physiological pain caused by light.
- Hydrophobia — fear of water (a symptom of rabies).
- Photophobia — hypersensitivity to light causing aversion to light (a symptom of Meningitis and a common condition of migrane headaches).
- Phonophobia — hypersensitivity to sound causing aversion to sounds. Common during an alcohol hangover or migrane.
- Osmophobia — hypersensitivity to smells causing aversion to odors. Common during pregnancy.
Biology, chemistry
Biologists use a number of -phobia/-phobic terms to describe predispositions by plants and animals against certain conditions. For antonyms, see here.
- Acidophobia/Acidophobic — preference for non-acidic conditions.
- Heliophobia/Heliophobic — aversion to sunlight.
- Hydrophobia/Hydrophobic — a property of being repelled by water.
- Kosmikophobia — fear of cosmic phenomena, such as black holes or nebulae
- Lipophobicity — a property of fat rejection
- Ombrophobia — fear of rain
- Photophobia/Photophobic — a negative phototaxis or phototropism response.
- Superhydrophobe — the property given to materials that are extremely difficult to get wet.
- Thermophobia/Thermophobic — aversion to heat.
- Xerophobia/Xerophobic — aversion to dryness.
Prejudices and discrimination
One can readily use the suffix -phobia to coin a term that denotes a particular anti-ethnic or anti-demographic sentiment, such as Europhobia, Francophobia, Hispanophobia, and Indophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists (e.g., Polonophobia vs. anti-Polonism). See "List of anti-ethnic terms" for more examples. Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and Islamophobia.
Other prejudices include
- Biphobia — dislike of bisexuals
- Chemophobia — prejudice against artificial substances in favour of 'natural' substances.
- Ephebiphobia — fear/dislike of youth.
- Gerontophobia, Gerascophobia — fear of growing old or a hatred of the elderly.
- Heterophobia — fear/dislike of heterosexuals.
- Homophobia — aversion to homosexuality or fear of homosexuals. (This word has become a common political term, and many people interpret it as a slur.)
- Hoplophobia — aversion to firearms or firearms owners. This word has also gained a certain political notoriety as a dysphemism for "gun control advocate"
- Lesbophobia — fear/dislike of lesbian women
- Lusophobia — fear/dislike of Portuguese people
- Pedophobia, Pediophobia — fear/dislike of children
- Psychophobia — prejudice and discrimination against mentally ill
- Serbophobia — fear/dislike of Serbs or
- Sinophobia — fear or dislike for
- Transphobia — fear or dislike of transgender or transsexual people.
- Xenophobia — fear or dislike of foreigners
Jocular and fictional phobias
- Aibohphobia — a joke term for the fear of palindromes, which is a palindrome itself. The term is a piece of computer humor entered into the 1981 The Devil's DP Dictionary3
- Anachrophobia — fear of temporal displacement, from a Doctor Who novel by Jonathan Morris.
- Anoraknophobia — fear of spiders wearing anoraks: it is a portmanteau of "anorak" and "arachnophobia. Used in the Wallace and Gromit comic book Anoraknophobia. Also the title of an album by Marillion.
- Arachibutyrophobia — fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. The word is used by Peter O'Donnell in his 1985 Modesty Blaise adventure novel Dead Man's Handle.4 It had circulated, unattributed, in the Internet for some time until it landed at the CTRN Phobia Clinic website: "Working one-on-one with one of our team, with guaranteed lifetime elimination of Sticky Peanut Butter Phobia. From $1497 and up."
- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia — fear of long words. Hippopoto- "big" due to its allusion to the Greek-derived word hippopotamus (though this is derived as hippo- "horse" compounded with potam-os "river", so originally meaning "river horse"; according to the Oxford English, "hippopotamine" has been construed as large since 1847, so this coinage is reasonable); -monstr- is from Latin words meaning "monstrous", -o- is a noun-compounding vowel; -sesquipedali- comes from "sesquipedalian" meaning a long word (literally "a foot and a half long" in Latin), -o- is a noun-compounding vowel, and -phobia means "fear". Note: This was mentioned on the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as one of Tickle's Teasers.
- Venustraphobia — fear of beautiful women, according to a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.1 The word is a portmanteau of "Venus trap" and "phobia". Venustraphobia is the title of a 2006 album by Casbah Club.
Miscellaneous
- Chromophobia — "hatred/fear of colors", a film
- Choreophobia — hatred of dance, a book by Anthony Shay about Iranian dance and its prohibition after the Iranian Revolution
- Entomophobia — a genus of orchids. The word means "fear of insects"
- Robophobia — a novel by Richard Evans
so, which phobia are you ... ?
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