List of phobias

This article is about the suffix -phobia. For the class of psychological disorders, see Phobia.

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-.

For more information on the psychiatric side, 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 some cases, the naming of phobias has become a word game, of notable example being a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News.

In some cases a word ending in -phobia may have an antonym with the suffix -phil-, e.g., Germanophobe / [Germanophile].

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". 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
• Achluophobia – fear of darkness
• Acrophobia – fear of heights
• Agoraphobia, Agoraphobia Without History of Panic Disorder – fear of places or events where escape is impossible or when help is unavailable. From another source: Agoraphobia: Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like markets. Fear of leaving a safe place.
• Agraphobia – fear of sexual contact
• Agrizoophobia – fear of wild animals
• Agyrophobia –The fear of crossing the road.
• Aichmophobia – fear of sharp or pointed objects (such as a needle or knife)
• Ailurophobia – fear of cats
• Androphobia – fear of men
• Anthophobia – fear of flowers
• Anthropophobia – fear of people or the company of people, a form of social phobia.
• Aquaphobia – fear of water. Distinct from Hydrophobia, a scientific property that makes chemicals averse to interaction with water, as well as an archaic name for rabies
• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
• Astraphobia – fear of thunder and lightning
• Atychiphobia – fear of failure
• Autophobia – fear of being alone or isolated
• Aviophobia, Aviatophobia – fear of flying
• Blood-injection-injury type phobia – a DSM-IV subtype of specific phobias
• Chaetophobia – fear of hair
• Chiroptophobia – fear of bats
• Chronophobia - fear of time and time moving forward
• Cibophobia, Sitophobia – aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa
• Claustrophobia – fear of having no escape and being closed in
• Coulrophobia – fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns)
• Decidophobia – fear of making decisions
• Dentophobia, Odontophobia – fear of dentists and dental procedures
• Descendophobia - fear or discomfort while descending stairs or down the hill
• Disposophobia – fear of getting rid of or losing things - sometimes wrongly defined as "compulsive hoarding"
• Dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder – a phobic obsession with a real or imaginary body defect
• Ebulliophobia – fear of bubbles
• 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 abuse
• Erythrophobia – pathological blushing
• Friggatriskaidekaphobia, Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paraskevidekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th
• Gelotophobia – fear of being laughed at
• Gephyrophobia – fear of bridges
• Genophobia, Coitophobia – fear of sexual intercourse
• Gerascophobia – fear of growing old or aging
• Gerontophobia – fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly
• Glossophobia – fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak
• Gymnophobia – fear of nudity
• Gynophobia – fear of women
• Halitophobia – fear of bad breath
• Haptephobia – fear of being touched
• Heliophobia – fear of sunlight
• Kenophobia, Cenophobia, fear of empty space
• Hemophobia, Haemophobia – fear of blood
• Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia – fear of the number 666
• Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia - fear of long words
• Hoplophobia – fear of weapons, specifically firearms (Generally a political term but the clinical phobia is also documented)
• Hydrophobia – fear of water, frequently noted as a common symptom of rabies
• Hylophobia – fear of trees, forests or wood
• Ichthyophobia – fear of fish, including fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish
• Ipovlopsychophobia - fear of having one’s photograph taken.
• Lipophobia – fear/avoidance of fats in food
• Mysophobia – fear of germs, contamination or dirt
• Necrophobia – fear of death and/or the dead
• Negrophobia – fear of black people, often used to describe racial bigots
• Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia – fear of newness, novelty
• Nomophobia – fear of being out of mobile phone contact
• Nosocomephobia – fear of hospitals
• Nosophobia – fear of contracting a disease
• Nyctophobia, Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia – fear of darkness
• Oikophobia – fear of home surroundings and household appliances
• Ombrophobia – fear of rain
• Omphalophobia – fear of bellybuttons
• Ophthalmophobia – fear of being stared at
• Osmophobia, Olfactophobia – fear of smells
• Panphobia – fear of everything or constant fear of an unknown cause
• Phagophobia – fear of swallowing
• Pharmacophobia – fear of medications
• Philophobia – fear of love
• Phobophobia – fear of having a phobia
• Phonophobia – fear of loud sounds
• Pyrophobia – fear of fire
• Radiophobia – fear of radioactivity or X-rays
• Seismophobia - fear of earthquakes (http://www.fearofstuff.com/nature/fear-of-earthquakes/)
• Sociophobia – fear of people or social situations
• Scopophobia – fear of being looked at or stared at
• Somniphobia – fear of sleep
• Spasmenagaliaphobia (neologism; no official name) – fear of broken glass
• Spectrophobia – fear of ghosts and phantoms
• Spheksophobia – fear of wasps
• Stygiophobia – fear of Hell
• Taphophobia, Taphephobia – fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive
• Technophobia – fear of technology (see also Luddite)
• Telephone phobia – fear or reluctance of making or taking phone calls
• Tetraphobia – fear of the number 4
• Thalassophobia – fear of the sea, or fear of being in the ocean
• Thanatophobia – fear of death
• Tokophobia – fear of childbirth or pregnancy
• Traumatophobia – a synonym for injury phobia: fear of having an injury
• Trichophobia – a morbid disgust caused by the sight of loose hairs
• Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia – fear of the number 13
• Trypanophobia, Belonephobia, Enetophobia – fear of needles or injections
• Trypophobia - fear of holes or clusters of holes
• Turophobia – fear of cheese
• Workplace phobia – fear of the workplace
• Xenophobia – fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens
• Xylophobia, Hylophobia, Ylophobia – fear of trees, forests or wood

Animal phobias

Main articles: Animal phobia and Zoophobia

• Agrizoophobia – fear of wild animals
• Ailurophobia – fear/dislike of cats
• Apiphobia – fear/dislike of bees (also known as melissophobia, from the Greek melissa "bee")
• Arachnophobia – fear/dislike of spiders and other arachnids
• Bovinophobia – fear/dislike of cattle
• Chiroptophobia – fear/dislike of bats
• Cynophobia – fear/dislike of dogs
• Entomophobia – fear/dislike of insects
• Equinophobia – fear/dislike of horses (also known as hippophobia)
• Herpetophobia – fear/dislike of reptiles and/or amphibians
• Hippophobia – fear/dislike of horses
• Ichthyophobia – fear/dislike of fish
• Mottephobia – fear/dislike of butterflies and/or moths
• Murophobia – fear/dislike of mice and/or rats
• Ophidiophobia – fear/dislike of snakes
• Ornithophobia – fear/dislike of birds
• Selachophobia – fear of sharks
• Scoleciphobia – fear of worms
• Xanthophobia – fear of the colour yellow
• Zoophobia – fear of animals
• Julianophobia - fear of people called Julian

Non-psychological conditions

• Photophobia – hypersensitivity to light causing aversion to light
• Phonophobia – hypersensitivity to sound causing aversion to sounds.
• Osmophobia – hypersensitivity to smells causing aversion to odors.

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.
• Lipophobicity – a property of fat rejection
• Oleophobicity - a property of oil rejection
• Ombrophobia – avoidance of rain
• Photophobia (biology) a negative phototaxis or phototropism response, or a tendency to stay out of the light
• Superhydrophobe – the property given to materials that are extremely difficult to get wet.
• Thermophobia – aversion to heat.

Prejudices and discrimination

See also: List of anti-ethnic terms

The suffix -phobia is used to coin terms that denote a particular anti-ethnic or anti-demographic sentiment, such as Americanophobia, Europhobia, Francophobia, Hispanophobia, and Indophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists (e.g., Polonophobia vs. anti-Polonism). Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and Islamophobia. Sometimes the terms themselves could even be considered racist, as with "Negrophobia."

Other prejudices include:

• Anglophobia – fear/dislike of England or English culture, etc.
• Biphobia – fear/dislike of bisexuality or bisexuals.
• Christianophobia – fear/dislike of Christians
• Ephebiphobia – fear/dislike of youth.
• Germanophobia – fear/dislike of Germans.
• Gerontophobia, Gerascophobia – fear/dislike of aging or the elderly.
• Heterophobia – fear/dislike of heterosexuals.
• Homophobia – fear/dislike of homosexuality or homosexuals.
• Islamophobia – fear/dislike of Muslims
• Judeophobia – fear/dislike of Jews.
• Lesbophobia – fear/dislike of lesbians.
• Negrophobia – fear/dislike of African American people.
• Nipponophobia - fear/dislike of the Japanese.
• Pedophobia, Pediophobia – fear/dislike of children.
• Polonophobia - fear/dislike of the Polish.
• Psychophobia – fear/dislike of mental illness or the mentally ill.
• Russophobia - fear/dislike of the Russians.
• Sinophobia – fear/dislike of Chinese.
• Teutophobia - see Germanophobia.
• Xenophobia – fear/dislike of foreigners or extraterrestrials.

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 Dictionary
• Anachrophobia – fear of temporal displacement, from a Doctor Who novel by Jonathan Morris.
• Anatidaephobia – the fictional fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you. From Gary Larson's The Far Side.
• Anoraknophobia – 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 Charles M. Schulz in a 1982 installment of his "Peanuts" comic strip and by Peter O'Donnell in his 1985 Modesty Blaise adventure novel Dead Man's Handle.
• 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.
• Keanuphobia – fear of Keanu Reeves, portrayed in the Dean Koontz book, False Memory, where a woman has an irrational fear of Keanu Reeves and has to see her psychiatrist, Mark Ahriman, each week, unaware that she only has the fear in the first place because the psychotic Ahriman implanted it via hypnotic suggestion to amuse himself. He calls her the "Keanuphobe" in his head.
• Luposlipaphobia – fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor, also from Gary Larson's The Far Side.
• Monkeyphobia – fear of monkeys, as named by Lord Monkey Fist in the animated series Kim Possible. Due to spending a summer in a cabin with a crazy chimp mascot, Ron Stoppable has a fear of monkeys, which he gets over several times, usually during battles with Monkey Fist, who is essentially Ron's arch-nemesis.
• Nihilophobia – fear of nothingness (comes from the combination of the Latin word nihil which means nothing, none, and the suffix -phobia), as described by the Doctor in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Night. Voyager's morale officer and chef Neelix suffers from this condition, having panic attacks while the ship was traversing a dark expanse of space known as the Void. It is also the title of a 2008 album by Neuronium. Also, the animated version of George of the Jungle (2007 TV series) is seen suffering in one episode of the cartoon, where they are telling scary stories.
• Robophobia - Irrational fear of robots and/or androids, also known as "Grimwade's Syndrome". First heard in the Doctor Who story The Robots of Death.
• Semaphobia – fear of average Web developers to use Semantic Web technologies.
• Venustraphobia – fear of beautiful women, according to a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News. The word is a portmanteau of "Venus trap" and "phobia". Venustraphobia is the title of a 2006 album by Casbah Club.

Miscellaneous

• Arachnophobia – "fear/dislike of spiders," a film
• Chromophobia – "hatred/fear of colours," 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"
• Philophobia, an album by Arab Strap
• Robophobia – a novel by Richard Evans
• Phobia, an album by Breaking Benjamin

References

• Chris Aldrich (2002-12-02). The Aldrich Dictionary of Phobias and Other Word Families. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-886-X.
• [1]
• http://phobialist.com