Ergophobia | definition of ergophobia by Medical dictionary Ergophobia | definition of ergophobia by Medical dictionary Psychology Fear of work. See Phobia . ergophobia (ĕr″gō-fō′bē-ă) [″ + phobos, fear] Morbid dread of working. Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Copyright © 2003-2017 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Phobias: List With Explanations of Each Phobia - Disabled World Phobias: List With Explanations of Each Phobia Print Published: 2009-01-11 (Rev.

2016-03-23) - Contact: Ian Langtree at Disabled World Synopsis: List and definitions of some of the more common phobias in children and adults including social phobia. About Phobia In clinical psychology, a phobia is defined as a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely, the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities. Main Document "A phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or persons. This is a list of some of the more common phobias." A phobia can be classified as a disability in that it can effect a persons psychological being and ability to perform certain tasks. A phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or persons.

Most phobias are classified into two categories and, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), such phobias are considered to be sub-types of anxiety disorder. The two categories are: Specific phobias: Fear of particular objects or social situations that immediately results in anxiety and can sometimes lead to panic attacks. Specific phobia may be further subdivided into five categories: animal type, natural environment type, situational type, blood-injection-injury type, and other. Agoraphobia: a generalized fear of leaving home or a small familiar 'safe' area, and of possible panic attacks that might follow. Agoraphobia may also be caused by various specific phobias such as fear of open spaces, social embarrassment (social agoraphobia), fear of contamination (fear of germs, possibly complicated by obsessive-compulsive disorder) or PTSD ( post traumatic stress disorder ) related to a trauma that occurred out of doors.

List of Common Phobias A B C D E G H I L M N O P R S T X Z A Agoraphobia - Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder, often precipitated by the fear of having a panic attack in a setting from which there is no easy means of escape. As a result, sufferers of agoraphobia may avoid public and/or unfamiliar places. Agoraphobia arises from an internal anxiety condition that has become so intense that the suffering individual fears going anywhere or doing anything where these feelings of panic have repeatedly occurred before. Agoraphobia can come on suddenly or develop gradually, typically developing between the ages of 18 and 35. Symptoms include: strong feelings of panic, dread, terror, and horror recognizing that the anxiety is overblown, yet not being able to "talk yourself out of it" rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, and an overwhelming urge to flee the situation - all physical reactions associated with extreme fear going to great lengths to avoid the situation that causes fear. Arachnophobia - fear of spiders. Arachnophobia is a specific phobia, an abnormal fear of spiders. It is among the most common of all phobias.

The reactions of arachnophobics often seem irrational to others (and sometimes to the sufferers themselves). People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. Acidophobia, Acidophobic- preference for non-acidic conditions. The terms Acidophobe/Acidophobia//Acidophoby/Acidophobic refer to intolerance to acidic environments. The term is variously applied to plants, bacteria, protozoa, animals, chemical compounds, etc. The anthonymous term is "acidophile". Cf. "alkaliphile". Acrophobia - Known by a number of names - Acrophobia, Altophobia, and Fear of Heights being the most common. Acrophobia can be dangerous, as sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Like all fears and phobias, altophobia is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. At some point in your past, there was likely an event linking heights or high levels and emotional trauma.

Vertigo is often used, incorrectly, to describe the fear of heights, but it is more accurately described as a spinning sensation, which may be caused by looking down from a high place. Ailurophobia - fear of cats. Ailurophobia is a type of specific phobia. It is a persistent, irrational fear of cats. Algophobia - Algophobia is a phobia of pain, an abnormal and persistent fear of pain that is far more powerful than that of a normal person. Sensitivity may lead to algophobia, depending on the psychological makeup of the person, but sensitivity to pain could be on other than psychological grounds. Anthropophobia - fear of people or being in a company, a form of social phobia . See our article on Overcoming Social Phobia . Anthropophobia is an extreme, pathological form of shyness and timidness. It may be manifested in fears of blushing, meeting the gaze of the others, awkwardness and uneasiness when appearing in society. Millions of people around the world suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder (also known as Social Phobia) and related conditions.

Yet virtually everyone knows what it is like to feel shy or lacking in social confidence, often to an extent that can limit opportunities and happiness. Apiphobia, Melissophobia - fear of bees. Melissophobia - Fear of bees or bee stings, is a common fear among people. Aquaphobia, Hydrophobia - Aquaphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of water. They may avoid such activities as boating and swimming, or they may avoid swimming in the deep ocean despite having mastered basic swimming skills. Medical professionals indicate that aquaphobia may manifest itself in a person through their specific experiences or due to biological factors. Some people may develop the phobia as a reaction to a traumatic water experience. Other individuals may suffer from an "instinctive reaction" to the water which arises separate from any observable factors. They have a gut reaction that limits their fundamental comfort level in any sort of casual water activities, such as swimming. Many people mistakenly refer to aquaphobia as 'hydrophobia'; hydrophobia is in fact a symptom of later-stage rabies, and manifests itself in humans as difficulty in swallowing, fear when presented with liquids to drink and an inability to quench one's thirst.

Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Brontophobia, Keraunophobia - Astraphobia, also known as Brontophobia, Keraunophobia, or Tonitrophobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of a specific phobia. It is quite common in dogs and children. Symptoms of Astraphobia can be breathing difficulty, panic attacks, rapid heartbeat, nausea and sweating. These symptoms can manifest themselves in the form of a tantrum or fit, and might be easy to dismiss as such although a genuine phobia can cause the aforementioned feelings to be completely overwhelming. Children may act out as a result of not being able to cope with these symptoms and knowledge of why they are happening. Autophobia - Autophobia (or Monophobia) is the phobia of being alone. Autophobia is a real personality disorder. The term is used to describe three different conditions: A fear of being alone, A fear of being egotistical, A fear of oneself. The third is the rarest of these conditions. Aviophobia, Aviatophobia - Fear of flying is a fear of being on a plane while in flight.

It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia. Fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect manifestation of one or more other phobias, such as claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces) or acrophobia (a fear of heights). It may have other causes as well. It is a symptom rather than a disease, and different causes may bring it about in different individuals. A fear of flying is a level of anxiety so great that it prevents a person from traveling by air, or causes great distress to a person when he or she is compelled to travel by air. The most extreme manifestations can include panic attacks or vomiting at the mere sight or mention of an aircraft or air travel. B Bacillophobia, Bacteriophobia, Microbiophobia - fear of microbes and bacteria. A person with bacteriophobia may have trouble getting rid of the fear of germs and is always worried about hygiene. Microphobia is similar to bacteriophobia as it is a morbid fear for small things such as microorganisms or germs. Biphobia - dislike of bisexuals.

Biphobia is a term used to describe the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against bisexuality or LGBT people who are bisexual or perceived to be bisexual. C Chemophobia - prejudice against artificial substances in favor of natural substances. Chemophobia literally means "fear of chemicals" and may be used in various ways. It is most often used to describe the assumption that "chemicals" are bad and "natural" things are good. Chiroptophobia - Fear of bats, sometimes called chiroptophobia (an incorrect derivation from the order Chiroptera of bats) may refer both to a specific phobia associated with bats and to common negative stereotypes and fear of bats stemming from prejudices and misinformation. Cibophobia, Sitophobia - aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa . A slow build occurs when a mild case of Cibophobia escalates over time to become a severe one. What is happening here is that the individual is 'accumulating' fearful associations to food or eating, so that the evidence used by the mind and nervous system is becoming increasingly irrefutable that fear is the appropriate emotion. That means that anxiety is created automatically in anticipation each time... creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Claustrophobia - fear of confined spaces. Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder that involves the fear of enclosed or confined spaces. Claustrophobes may suffer from panic attacks, or fear of having a panic attack, in situations such as being in elevators, trains, or aircraft. It was found that 5-10.6% of people screened before an MRI scan had claustrophobia. Furthermore, it was found that 7% of patients had unidentified claustrophobia, and had to terminate the scanning procedure prematurely. 30% reported milder distress due to the necessity to lie in a confined space for a long time. For specific phobias in general, there is a lifetime prevalence rate of 7.2%-11.3%. Other forms of Claustrophobia include conditions such as Agoraphobia and panic attacks. Coulrophobia - fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns). Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns. It is not uncommon among children, but is also sometimes found in teenagers and adults as well.

Sufferers sometimes acquire a fear of clowns after having a bad experience with one personally, or seeing a sinister portrayal of one in the media. A design study carried out by the University of Sheffield found that children are frightened by clown-themed decor in hospitals. This fear can arise from seeing a clown in person, or in pictures. Cynophobia - fear of dogs. Cynophobia is the clinical name for an abnormal fear of dogs. The dog is a domesticated super-predator; this in combination with increasing media coverage of dog attacks could be contributing factors for development of this fear. D Dental phobia, Dentophobia, Odontophobia - fear of dentists and dental procedures. Dental fear refers to the fear of dentistry and of receiving dental care. A pathological form of this fear (specific phobia) is variously called dental phobia, odontophobia, dentophobia, dentist phobia, or dental anxiety. It is estimated that as many as 75% of US adults experiences some degree of dental fear, from mild to severe. Many people report that their dental fear began after a traumatic, difficult, and/or painful dental experience.

Dental fear may also develop as people hear about others' traumatic experiences or negative views of dentistry. Dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder - a phobic obsession with a real or imaginary body defect. E Emetophobia - fear of vomiting. Emetophobia is the irrational fear of vomiting, being around others who are vomiting, and/or the vomit itself. In worst case scenarios, people with the phobia tend to avoid eating out, socializing and going to parties. They may hardly eat at all and that's why many are often diagnosed as anorexic, but not bulimic as this illness involves the induction of vomiting. Emetophobics will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid becoming violently sick. Entomophobia - (also known as insectophobia) is the abnormal fear of or aversion to insects and similar arthropods, and even other "bugs", such as worms. Ephebiphobia - fear or dislike of youth. The irrational fear of youth is called ephebiphobia. First coined as the "fear and loathing of teenagers," today the phenomenon is recognized as the "inaccurate, exaggerated and sensational characterization of young people" in a variety of settings around the world.

Equinophobia, Hippophobia - fear of horses. Equinophobia is a psychological fear of horses. Ergasiophobia, Ergophobia - fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating. An abnormal and persistent fear of work. Sufferers of ergophobia experience undue anxiety about the workplace environment even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may actually be a combination of fears, such fear of failing at assigned tasks, fear of speaking before groups at work, or fear of socializing with co-workers.The fear of work or functioning (also surgeon's fear of operating) can result in the following symptoms: breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack. Erotophobia - fear of sexual love or sexual questions. Erotophobia is a term used by psychologists to describe sexuality on a personality scale. Erotophobes score high on one end of the scale that is characterized by expressions of guilt and fear about sex.

Erotophobes are less likely to talk about sex, have more negative reactions to sexually explicit material, and have sex less frequently and with fewer partners over time. Erotophobia can also be the fear of marriage or romantic relationships, especially by a man or in regards to heterosexual romance. Erythrophobia - pathological blushing . Erythrophobia is an unusual and persistent fear of Facial Blushing or blushing in general. Blushing displays a marked redness of one's face. The term is seldom applied except when the redness is construed as a result of embarrassment, shame, or modesty. If redness persists for abnormal amounts of time after blushing then it is considered an early sign of rosacea. Many who try to hide blushing usually end up making the condition even worse. G Genophobia, Coitophobia - fear of sexual intercourse. This phobia may be caused by actual sexual trauma (such as rape or molestation especially at an early age) or by witnessing a traumatic sexual act in real life or in the media. Gephyrophobia - fear of bridges. Gephyrophobia is an anxiety disorder brought about by the fear of bridges.

As a result, sufferers of gephyrophobia may avoid route that will take them over bridges. Gerontophobia - fear of growing old or a hatred of the elderly. Glossophobia - Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. It is believed to be the single most common phobia affecting as much as 75% of the population. Fear of oration is ranked even above that of death. Gymnophobia - fear of nudity. Gymnophobics experience anxiety from nudity, even if they realize their fear is irrational. They may worry about seeing others naked or being seen naked, or both. Their fear may stem from a general anxiety about sexuality, from a fear that they are physically inferior, or from a fear that their nakedness leaves them exposed and unprotected. Gynophobia - fear of women (also spelled as gynephobia) is an abnormal fear of women. Gynophobia used to be considered as among driving forces toward homosexuality. H Haptephobia - A fear of being touched, also called aphephobia, haphephobia, thixophobia. Heliophobia, Heliophobic - aversion to sunlight. Heliophobia - fear of sunlight.

Heliophobia is a problem that afflicts hundreds of Americans, but one that suffers from a lack of true research. The Pacific Health Center suggested that many people have been staying away from the sun because of growing fears about skin cancer. This is not technically heliophobia, simply an unfounded and illogical solution. Hemophobia, Haemophobia - fear of blood. Hemophobia is the extreme and irrational fear of blood. Acute cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon in most other fears, specifically vasovagal syncope (fainting). People with hemophobia are usual afraid of sight of own blood, rarely they dread other persons' or animals blood. Herpetophobia - The fear of reptiles, amphibians or other similar animals. Heterophobia - fear or dislike of heterosexuals. Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - fear of the number 666. (literally, "fear of the number six-hundred and sixty-six") is the fear that originates in the Biblical verse Revelation 13:18 which indicates that the number 666 is the Number of the Beast, linked to Satan or the Anti-Christ.

Homophobia - aversion to homosexuality or fear of homosexuals. Hoplophobia - aversion to firearms or firearms owners. Hoplophobia - fear of weapons, specifically firearms. Irrational, morbid fear of guns, it may cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, and more at mere thought of guns. Hydrophobia, Hydrophobic - a property of being repelled by water. Hydrophobia - fear of water (a symptom of rabies). I Iatrophobia - Fear of doctors - Doctor visits can cause anxiety in nearly anyone. For some people, however, normal anxiety gives way to outright panic. Iatrophobia, or fear of doctors, is surprisingly common today. Ichthyophobia - fear of fish. Although the term technically refers to a specific phobia, in many contexts it may refer to any kind of fear of fish, such as fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish. Galeophobia is a subtype of ichthyophobia specifically focused on one species, sharks. L Ligyrophobia - fear of loud noises. Phonophobia (also called ligyrophobia) is a fear of loud sounds.

It can also mean a fear of voices, or a fear of one's own voice. Lipophobicity - a property of fat rejection. Lipophobicity, also sometimes called lipophobia is a chemical property of chemical compounds which literally means "fat rejection". Lipophobic compounds are those not soluble in lipids or other non-polar solvents. From the other point of view, they do not absorb or adsorb fats. M Metrophobia - The fear of poetry. Many people first develop this phobia in school, when overzealous teachers encourage them to rank poems according to artificial scales, break them down and search for esoteric meanings. Musophobia - fear of mice and/or rats. Fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias. An exaggerated, phobic fear of mice and rats has traditionally been depicted as a stereotypical trait of women, with numerous books, cartoons, television shows, and films portraying hysterical women screaming and jumping atop chairs or tables at the sight of a mouse. Mysophobia - fear of germs, contamination or dirt. More commonly known as "germaphobia" or "germ phobia", is a pathological fear of germs, dirt, and above all of contamination.

Mysophobia is common in the United States. Some experts link the growing incidence of this disorder to Americans' general perception of the world as being a dangerous, uncontrollable place. N Necrophobia - fear of death, the dead. Necrophobia is the fear of death or dead things (e.g., corpses) as well as things associated with death (e.g., coffins). Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia - An abnormal and persistent fear of anything new including new things, ideas or situations, of novelty. Nomophobia - Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. More than 13 million Brits fear being out of mobile phone contact, according to research. Experts say nomophobia could affect up to 53 per cent of mobile phone users, with 48 per cent of women and 58 per cent of men questioned admitting to experiencing feelings of anxiety when they run out of battery or credit, lose their phone or have no network coverage. Nosophobia - fear of contracting a disease. It is related to hypochondriasis, but there are several important differences between the two conditions.

The most important difference is specificity. A person with hypochondriasis has several physical symptoms that he or she fears may be caused by illness. Someone with nosophobia, however, is afraid of a specific disease and becomes convinced that he or she has the symptoms of that particular disease. Nyctophobia , Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia - fear of darkness. Nyctophobia is a pathological fear of the dark. Its symptoms include breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly or sensation of detachment from reality and death. Fear of the dark is common in children, and often passes as they mature. If it persists for more than six months, fear of the dark should be professionally treated, as it can become crippling in older children and adults. O Ophidiophobia - Ophidiophobia or Ophiophobia refers to the fear of snakes. Fear of snakes is sometimes called by a more general term, herpetophobia, fear of reptiles. Ornithophobia - fear of birds. Ornithophobia is a type of specific phobia, an abnormal, irrational fear of birds. Osmophobia, Olfactophobia - fear of smells.

Osmophobia or olfactophobia refers to a fear, aversion, or psychological hypersensitivity to smells or odors. The phobia generally occurs in chronic migraine sufferers who may have odor triggered migraines. Such migraines are most frequently triggered by foul odors, but the hypersensitivity may extend to all odors. One study found as many as 25% of migraine sufferers had some degree of osmophobia. Osmophobia - hypersensitivity to smells causing aversion to odors. Common during pregnancy. P Panphobia - fear of everything or constantly afraid without knowing what is causing it. Also known as omniphobia or pantophobia, is the fear of everything or a vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil. Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paraskevidekatriaphobia, Friggatriskaidekaphobia - fear of Friday the 13th. If you base your belief on media attention, superstition about Friday the 13th might be the number one superstition in America today. Pedophobia - fear or dislike of children. Phonophobia - fear of loud sounds. Phonophobia - hypersensitivity to sound causing aversion to sounds. common during an alcohol hangover or migraine.

Photophobia, Photophobic - a negative phototaxis or phototropism response. Photophobia - hypersensitivity to light causing aversion to light (a symptom of Meningitis and a common condition of migraine headaches). Photophobia is a symptom of excessive sensitivity to light and the aversion to sunlight or well-lit places. In medical terms it is not fear, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure. Psychophobia - prejudice and discrimination against mentally ill. Psychophobia is fear of, prejudice or discrimination against the mentally ill. Over history the mentally ill were accused of being possessed by demons or the devil or of being witches or warlocks or devil worshipers. In modern times when psychology was developed it was found that such people had a mental illness and no demons or any other explanations mentioned above, yet the fear of the mentally ill has continues. Pyrophobia - The hate, or an abnormal or even irrational fear of fires or high temperatures. R Radiophobia - fear of radioactivity or X-rays. Radiophobia is an abnormal fear of ionizing radiation, also used in the sense of fear of X-rays.

The term is used in several related senses: in reference to a neurological disorder, to a specific phobia, and (polemically, not medically) to general opposition to the use of nuclear energy. Ranidaphobia - fear of frogs. Fear of frogs and toads has been recorded in the history of many cultures. For example, seeing a frog may be a bad omen or frogs and toads may give a person warts. At the same time in other cultures frogs are considered as good omen. A survey carried out by researchers from the Johannesburg Zoo have shown that in modern times old superstitions play less significant role and modern children are more concerned whether frogs are poisonous or harmless. S Sociophobia - fear or dislike of society or people in general. Social anxiety is a term used to describe an experience of anxiety (emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension or worry) regarding social situations and being evaluated by other people. It occurs early in childhood as a normal part of social functioning. People vary in how often they experience social anxiety or in which kinds of situations. It can be related to shyness or other emotional or temperamental factors, but its exact nature is still the subject of research and theory.

Extreme social anxiety can be disabling and may be diagnosed as social anxiety disorder (social phobia). T Taphophobia - fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive. Fear of being buried alive is the fear of being placed in a grave while still alive as a result of being incorrectly pronounced dead. The abnormal, psychopathological version of this fear is referred to as taphophobia (from Greek taphos, meaning "grave"), which is translated as "fear of graves". Before the advent of modern medicine the fear was not entirely irrational. Throughout history there have been numerous cases of people being accidentally buried alive. Technophobia - fear of technology. Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. Tetraphobia - fear of the number 4. Tetraphobia is an aversion or fear of the number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian regions such as China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The Chinese word for four (pinyin) sounds very similar to the word for death. Thermophobia/Thermophobic - aversion to heat.

Thermophobic is used to describe an intolerance for high temperatures by either inorganic material or organisms. Tokophobia - fear of childbirth. Primary tokophobia is the fear of childbirth which pre-dates pregnancy and can start in adolescence. Secondary tokophobia is due to a previous negative experience regarding traumatic birth, poor obstetric practice or medical attention, postpartum depression or other such upsetting events. Transphobia - fear or dislike of transgender or transsexual people. Transphobia (or less commonly, transprejudice) refers to discrimination against transsexuality and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender identity. Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia - fear of the number 13. Terdekaphobia is an irrational fear of the number 13; it is a superstition and related to a specific fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. Trypanophobia, Aichmophobia, Belonephobia, Enetophobia - fear of needles or injections. Trypanophobia is the extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles.

It is occasionally referred to as aichmophobia, belonephobia, or enetophobia, names that are technically incorrect because they simply denote a "fear of pins/needles" and do not refer to the medical aspect of trypanophobia. The name that is in common usage is simply needle phobia. X Xenophobia - fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens. Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people. Xenophobia - fear or dislike of foreigners. Xerophobia/Xerophobic - aversion to dryness. Z Zoophobia - a generic term for animal phobias. Zoophobia or animal phobia may have one of two closely related meanings: a generic term for the class of specific phobias to particular animals, or an irrational fear or even simply dislike of any non-human animals. World Wide Words: Fears and dreads Random page Fears and dreads An enquirer of the newsgroup alt.usage.english recently asked for the word that described an irrational fear of dogs.

In such circumstances, a word ending in phobia is bound to be appropriate, because this is now the standard term for any extreme aversion, irrational fear or dread. After searching my sources for examples of the appropriate word, curiosity led me to look into similar terms. It is so strongly associated with modern psychiatry and pop-psychology that it is a little surprising to discover that as a word in its own right phobia dates back as far as 1786. Its source is the Greek word meaning “fear; horror”, which also turns up in a closely-related form in the name of one of the two moons of Mars, Phobos, so called in 1877 by its discoverer, the American Asaph Hall, after one of the two horses that in legend pulled the war chariot of the Greek god of war (the other being Deimos, “panic”, which name he gave to the other moon). Most people only know a very few of the more common words formed using the suffix -phobia.

Claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed spaces, from the Latin claustrum, originally “bar, bolt, lock” but later “a confined or shut-up space”, from which we also derive cloister, and close in the sense of an enclosure, court or quadrangle. Agoraphobia comes from the Greek word agora which originally meant an assembly but came to refer to the place of assembly and so any open space, especially a marketplace, thus leading to its sense of a fear of open spaces. Less common is acrophobia, “fear of heights”; this derives from the Greek akros for a thing that is topmost, or at the tip or extremity of something. One word physically close to that origin is acropolis, literally “upper city”, but more normally translated “citadel”, as being a structure one usually wishes to place on a commanding height. The same prefix turns up in acronym, a word formed from the tips, or beginnings, of other words, and in acromegaly, literally “large extremities”, in reference to deformations of the hands, feet or face.

Rather less obviously it is also related to acrobat, this being a person who — so far as the origin of the word elements is concerned — performs on tiptoe. Other standard phobias are nyctophobia, a fear of the dark (of the night, to be literal about the Greek root), and ochlophobia a fear of crowds, from the Greek words for night and crowd respectively. Also well known is hydrophobia, literally “fear of water”, as a name for rabies, which sometimes appears to cause such a sensation in sufferers because it makes the throat swell and so it becomes difficult for the victim to swallow. Much less common is lyssophobia, the fear of contracting rabies, formed using the original Greek word for the disease, lyssa.

There are several other unusual terms for the fear of contracting various sorts of diseases, such as: choleraphobia, leprophobia, meningitophobia, syphilophobia and tuberculophobia are all easy to identify from their roots (though syphilophobia might equally be a fear of shepherds, since the disease was named after the shepherd subject of the poem Syphilis, sive morbus Gallicus, “Syphillis or the French Disease”, by Girolamo Fracastoro, published in 1530). Toxiphobia is obviously a fear of being poisoned (from Greek toxon, a bow, which has given us toxophily for the sport of archery, and which generated a Greek compound toxicon, “a poison for putting on arrows” which was taken into Latin and later reached us as toxic). All these terms are examples of nosophobia or pathophobia, “fear of disease”, the former deriving from one Greek word for disease, nosos, the latter from pathos (Greek “suffering; disease”, which makes a combining form patho- in medical English as well as a standalone word).

Or perhaps we can summarise them all as either algophobia, a fear of pain, or thanatophobia, a fear of death, both derived from the equivalent Greek words. The suffix has been immensely useful in permitting the English language to generate a whole range of words relating to a morbid fear of certain groups of outlanders (a condition which in general is usually called xenophobia, from the Greek xenos, “stranger; foreigner”). As examples, there are Francophobia (and also Gallophobia), Hispanophobia, Russophobia (for most of this century also Sovietophobia), Germanophobia (as well as Teutonophobia), Polonophobia, Italophobia, and Sinophobia. A common one in British newspapers at the moment is Europhobia, not a fear of Europe as such, but rather a distaste for or aversion to the European Union.

There are words for a fear of England (Anglophobia) and of Scotland (Scotophobia, which with a lower-case initial letter is also another word for the fear of the dark, from the Greek skotos, “dark”), but there seem to be no equivalent terms recorded for the Welsh and Irish, though Cambrophobia and Hibernophobia would serve well enough if needed. There are phobia terms for many religions, including Islamophobia, Judeophobia, and Christophobia, not to mention theophobia, an irrational fear of God’s anger, ecclesiophobia, a morbid dread of or aversion to ecclesiasticism, pneumatophobia, a terror of spiritual matters, teleophobia, a fear of design or final causes, or hierophobia, a fear or horror of sacred things or persons. But the word is such a useful little suffix that it has been immensely overused this century both in psychiatry and popular writing, with dozens of compounds being noted in larger dictionaries.

Here are some of the more uncommon ones I’ve found: cremnophobia, a dread of precipices or steep places (from the Greek kremnos, an overhanging cliff); arachnophobia, a morbid fear of spiders (Greek, arachni, “spider”), brontophobia, a dread of thunderstorms and thunder (from the Greek for thunder that turns up also in brontosaurus, the “thunder lizard”); erythrophobia (a fear or dread of blushing, from the Greek erythros, “red”); gynophobia (a fear of women, from the same root that gives us gynaecology); ergophobia (dread of work, from the Greek ergon that has been used to create ergonomics, the study of work practices); hypnophobia (a fear of falling asleep, from the same Greek root that appears in hypnosis); mycophobia (fear of mushrooms); ailurophobia a dread of cats (there are several words for this particular malaise, including a variant form elurophobia as well as felinophobia, galeophobia, and gatophobia; what’s so terrible about cats that so many are needed?), hippophobia,

 fear of horses (a hippopotamus is literally a “river horse”, which will tell you the literal meaning of potamophobia, though it is also used for a unreasoning fear of any large body of water); hodophobia, a fear of travelling, hylophobia, fear of forests, thalassophobia, a terror of the sea; neophobia, the fear of change; rupophobia (fear of dirt, or conceivably of sealing wax, since it could be derived from the Greek rupon with that sense); pyrophobia (fear of fire); and sitiophobia (fear of food, though the Greek root is such that it ought strictly to be fear of bread or grain; there is also the related phagophobia, a fear of eating).

It’s so easy to make up such words that most writers seem to have a go at it at some time or other (either that, or they make lists of words for phobias). They turn up fairly regularly in the lighter type of article in our more serious journals and newspapers. For example, several have been coined in recent years to describe a terror of some newish examples of technology: computerphobia, cyberphobia, cybertechnophobia, telephobia and technophobia. My favourite such formation is anoraknophobia, which could be a terror of trainspotters but is more likely to be used for a fear of such manifestations of information technology as the World Wide Web, though Wired magazine once defined it as “the unreasonable fear that joining the digital revolution will somehow lead one into unprompted fashion mistakes”.

Then there’s ericophobia, a fear of heathland; horophobia, a terror of clocks and — especially — clockfaces; successophobia (which Douglas Coupland defined as “the fear that if one is successful, then one’s personal needs will be forgotten”); cyclophobia a severe aversion to cyclists; deipnophobia, a fear of dinner parties (Greek deipnon, “dinner”), dromophobia, a terror of crossing streets; linonophobia, a fear of string, anthophobia, fear of flowers, ombrophobia, a fear of rain, harpaxophobia, fear of robbers, symmetrophobia, a horror of symmetry; and triskaidekaphobia the fear of the number 13. If you have a number of phobias, you may be said to have polyphobia; if your fear is of being afraid, you may suffer from phobophobia.

If your fear has no observable cause, you have panophobia, “a causeless terror”, which is also used along with panphobia for a fear of everything (the opposite and possibly even more worrying affliction is pantaphobia, the irrational absence of fear, from pant-, “all; everything” and aphobia, “fearlessness”). If you are lucky, you may only have paraphobia, a mild case of phobia. Since you are reading this, you are unlikely to be suffering from logophobia, a terror of words in general, though you might have onomatophobia, a fear of hearing certain words spoken, or have contracted bibliophobia, a horror of books, glossophobia, a fear of speaking, or papyrophobia, a fear of paper, or even theatrophobia, an aversion to theatres and plays. I know several authors and playwrights who have a bad case of criticophobia, a dread of critics. Let us return to our dogs. If we are to form our phobia words with due regard to the linguistic origins of their elements, we should stick to Greek roots. This would make a fear of dogs cynophobia.

However, the OED has a couple of examples of its antonym, for which people have for some reason coined canophilia, using the Latin canis; rightly, the OED says this is an irregular formation. As a lifelong cat-lover, I can only concur. Share this page Phobia lists - Biology Online Phobia lists Phobia A phobia is an irrational, persistent fear of certain situations, objects, activities, or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. When the fear is beyond one's control, or if the fear is interfering with daily life, then a diagnosis under one of the anxiety disorders can be made Different kinds of Phobia Acrophobia, Altophobia — fear of heights. Agoraphobia — fear of a place or event where escape is impossible or when help is unavailiable. Algophobia — fear of pain. Anthropomorphobia — fear or dislike of anthropomorphic traits. Aquaphobia, Hydrophobia — fear of water, specifically the morbid fear of drowning. Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Brontophobia, Keraunophobia — fear of thunder, lightning and storms; especially common in young children.

Aviophobia, Aviatophobia — fear of flying. Bacillophobia, Bacteriophobia, Microbiophobia — fear of microbes and bacteria. Bathophobia — fear of depth. Cibophobia, Sitophobia — aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa. Claustrophobia — fear of confined spaces. Clinophobia — fear of going to bed or falling asleep. Coulrophobia — fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns). 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. Erotophobia — fear of sexual love or sexual questions. Erythrophobia — pathological blushing. Genophobia, Coitophobia — fear of sexual intercourse. Glossophobia — fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak. Gymnophobia — fear of nudity. Hoplophobia — fear of firearms (guns). Heliophobia — fear of sunlight.

Hemophobia, Haemophobia — fear of blood. Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — fear of the number 666. Lalophobia, Laliophobia — fear of speaking. Ligyrophobia — fear of loud noises. Mysophobia — fear of germs, contamination or dirt. Necrophobia — fear of death, the dead. Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia — fear of newness, novelty. Nyctophobia, Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia — fear of darkness. Osmophobia, Olfactophobia — fear of smells. Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paraskevidekatriaphobia, Friggatriskaidekaphobia — fear of Friday the 13th. Pyrophobia — fear of fire. Radiophobia — fear of radiation or X-rays. Sociophobia — fear/dislike of society or people in general (see also "sociopath"). Taphephobia — fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive. Technophobia — fear of technology (see also Luddite).

Tokophobia — fear of childbirth. Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia — fear of the number 13. Trypanophobia — fear of needles, injections or of pointed objects. Xenophobia — fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens. Zoophobias Apiphobia, Melissophobia — fear of bees. Arachnophobia — fear of arachnids, usually specific to spiders. Chiroptophobia — fear of bats. Words that Went Extinct | Grammarly Blog Words that Went Extinct · Updated on 23 October 2015 Share it Embed Code shares Dictionaries incorporate new words every year. Some are pop culture inventions like jeggings, photobomb, and meme. Other words, like emoji and upvote, spring up from technology and social media. Dictionaries respond by creating definitions for anyone who cares to know what a twitterer is. And thank goodness they do; you can learn what an eggcorn is simply by turning a few pages in your trusty updated dictionary. Interestingly, not all newly added words are recent developments. The Oxford English Dictionary June 2015 new words list included autotune, birdhouse, North Korean, and shizzle!

North Korea was founded in 1948. The initial release of the autotuner audio processor was in 1997. Before adding a slang term like shizzle, dictionary publishers weigh the current popularity, predicted longevity, and other factors. Just this year alone, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary welcomed about 1,700 new arrivals. With more and more words coined every year, dictionaries couldn’t possibly add them all to their existing word banks. Can you imagine a dictionary containing all the words ever used in English? It would be impossible to lift! With each yearly edit, dictionary editors must discard some words to make room for new ones. What you don’t know can’t hurt you. Is that expression true in the case of vocabulary? Are words out of sight, out of mind? Let’s look at some of the words we lost—terms eliminated from dictionaries or never included—to see if obsolete words really are better forgotten. For the sake of spelling bees alone, we should consider bringing back quomodocunquize. The word means to make money by any means possible. Also work-related is ergophobia, the morbid fear of going back to work.

Think of the advice you could give if these two words were still in play: Instead of quomodocunquizing every month, try to find stable employment. If you don’t find a job soon, you run the risk of developing ergophobia. One obsolete word means a person with a handsome face. English has many words to express beauty; why should this word be banned? Well, its components still exist. There’s snout, which according to Dictionary.com, has five meanings. Notably, the first and most prevalent understanding of snout is the muzzle of an animal. Another definition refers to humans; a snout is “a person’s nose, especially when large or prominent.” Fair, the other part of the extinct word, used to be associated more with female beauty than “free from bias.” Therefore, calling someone snoutfair was a compliment. Hugger-mugger is another compound word, but the current definitions of its components don’t match its meaning. In modern English, this term would be confusing. In general, hyphens link together two words to express one idea. For example, a hunter-gatherer is a person who feeds himself by hunting and gathering food.

Nowadays, a hugger is someone who embraces others. A mugger is someone who assaults other people, usually with the intention to rob them. However, to hugger-mugger isn’t to embrace someone while you rob him; it means to act in a sneaky, secretive manner. Using this verb would probably confound your listener, so it’s probably best to use a more understandable synonym. You might agree that simpler synonyms are the way to go if you consider some obsolete terms from archaic versions of the Bible. “Cheek teeth” are now rendered as “fangs” in modern revisions. Instead of “suffer the little children to come,” the verse in the book of Mark now reads, “let the little children come.” Idioms help preserve some obsolete words. Not many people could define tisket or tasket, but they know the children’s rhyme by heart: A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket… Outside of the expression, “to and fro,” fro is seldom used. Interestingly, it originated from the Scottish pronunciation of “from.” Now, “to and from” sounds strange to most English speakers.

The Sami languages, spoken in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, reportedly include more than 150 words related to snow and ice. In the 1590s, the English language had a word for recently melted snow—snowbroth. Now, English speakers simply call it water or melted snow. In fact, words that are markedly specific seem more vulnerable to extinction. A 19th-century dictionary included Englishable, a term to describe how appropriate a word is for the English language. However, English is a dynamic language, always accepting and abandoning words. Apparently, Englishable itself isn’t Englishable; it’s now obsolete. Do you favor any infrequently used words? If so, use them now and often. . . A word’s best defense against extinction is regular use. 60 Weirdest Phobias People You Know May Have ~ Curious? Read The irrational fear of becoming bald or fear of being around bald people. Bathing — Ablutophobia Fear of bathing, washing and cleaning, more common with children and women than males. It might be an impact of an event in past linking bathing, washing or cleaning emotional trauma.

Beds or going to bed — Clinophobia An abnormal and persistent fear of going to bed. Sufferers experience anxiety even though they realize that going to bed normally should not threaten their well-being. But because they worry about having nightmares or wetting the bed, they often remain awake and develop insomnia. Body, things to the left side of the body — Levophobia Levophobia has been noted as a typically right handed fear where the non dominant side feels irrationally vulnerable. Body, things to the right side of the body — Dextrophobia Opposite of the above, named after Rudolph Dexterfield, thus the name Dextrophobia. Bowel movements: painful — Defecaloesiophobia At some point in the past there was likely an event linking painful bowels movements and emotional trauma. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Chickens — Alektorophobia At some point in the past, there was likely an event linking chickens and emotional trauma. Chins — Geniophobia An unusual and abnormal fear of chins. Chopsticks — Consecotaleophobia The abnormal fear of chopsticks.

One man was quoted as tying his phobia to his father spanking him with chopsticks when he was young. Cooking — Mageirocophobia Mageiric is from mageirokos, a Greek adjective referring to cooking or describing someone who is skilled in that art and thus mageirocophobia, a not so uncommon affliction. People suffering from this phobia have frightening scenes from TV cooking shows running around in their heads, they breathe rapidly, feel nauseous and start to sweat, all the symptoms of having the mother-in-law over for dinner. Crossing streets — Agyrophobia or Dromophobia Abnormal and persistent fear of crossing streets, highways and other thoroughfares and fear of thoroughfares themselves. Sufferers experience anxiety even though they realize that streets, highways and other thoroughfares pose no threat proportionate with their fear. Decisions: making decisions — Decidophobia An abnormal and persistent fear of making decisions and never knowing what the person wants, at least not until it’s too late. Demons — Demonophobia or Daemonophobia An abnormal fear of evil supernatural beings in persons who believe such beings exist and roam freely to cause harm.

Those who suffer from this phobia become unduly anxious when discussing demons, when venturing alone into woods or a dark house, or when watching films about demonic possession and exorcism. Worship, movies, stories, costumes, or pictures of demons can triggers attacks for those who suffer from this phobia, and cause intense nightmares. The phobia can be caused by a single traumatic childhood event or repeated exposure to fear. Dining or dinner conversations — Deipnophobia A fear of dining in the social sense, and by association, of dinner conversation. Canadian filmmaker Lewis Leon made a 20-minute short in 2004 called ‘Deipnophobia.’ Disease, rectal - Rectophobia The fear of rectums, the anus. Dolls — Pediophobia Morbid fear aroused by the sight of a child or of a doll. Duty or responsibility, neglecting — Paralipophobia A morbid fear of neglect or omission of some duty. Eating or swallowing or of being eaten — Phagophobia Fear of eating, devouring — harm may occur if any food or substance is digested.

Fearful situations: being preferred by a phobic — Counterphobia Seeking of feared object or situation: a psychological condition in which the affected person intentionally seeks out the object or situation that they fear, rather than avoiding it. Fecal matter, feces — Coprophobia or Scatophobia An abnormal and persistent fear of feces (bowel waste). Sufferers go out of their way to avoid coming into contact with feces or sometimes even seeing feces. Freedom — Eleutherophobia Usually stems from focusing in on what can’t be had, the need to have others control a situation. Friday the 13th — Paraskavedekatriaphobia A word derived from the Greek words for Friday and thirteen, and phobia — a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a fear of the number thirteen. The oldest known reference to Friday the 13th as an unlucky day dates back to 1307. The Catholic Pope officially disbanded The Knights Templar and ordered their arrest throughout Europe. The Knights were a dedicated order of Catholic Monks who had battled for Christianity and were known for their willingness to give their lives for their cause.

They were arrested on false charges in a scheme devised by the King of France to gain access to their vast wealth. Over the next 5 years, the Knights were tortured and their Grand Master was burned at the stake in 1311. While these origins of the Friday the 13th legend may be speculative, it’s widely believed to be the first reference to the day as an unlucky day. Both the number thirteen and Friday have been considered unlucky Garlic — Alliumphobia Apparently you don’t have to be a vampire to have an abnormal fear of garlic. Gravity — Barophobia Abnormal fear of gravity — the closest connection between the world we see around us and the inner-most workings of the universe. Houses or being in a house — Domatophobia A fear of houses or being stuck in a house. Ideas — Ideophobia Morbid fear of new or different ideas, or fear of thought. Infinity — Apeirophobia The abnormal haunting by thoughts of infinity. Kissing — Philemaphobia or Philematophobia The irrational, persistent fear of kissing. Light — Photophobia Painful oversensitivity to light. Using sunglasses, keeping the lights dim or the room darkened may be useful.

Whereas most phobias are abnormal, excessive, and irrational, photophobia is usually an appropriate rational response. Looking up — Anablephobia or Anablepophobia The fear of looking up. Love, falling or being in - Philophobia A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of love and intimacy, of deep relationship with smbd. Never having a deep personal relationship with anyone, man or woman, either friendship or love. Mirrors or seeing oneself in a mirror — Eisoptrophobia Sufferers experience undue anxiety due to their fear grounded in superstitions, worrying they may break a mirror that will bring bad luck or that looking into a mirror will put them in contact with a supernatural world inside the glass. Mirrors and other reflective surfaces have long been associated with the strange or the bizarre. In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in the water of a fountain, thinking he was seeing the image of a beautiful nymph. Unable to embrace or call forth the image, he pined away and was eventually transformed into a flower. Money — Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia The fear of money or touching money.

Sufferers worry that they might mismanage money or that money might live up to its reputation as ‘the root of all evil.’ Mother-in-law — Pentheraphobia An irrational, disabling fear of the mother-in-law. Do you really need me to explain it to you? Names — Nomatophobia An abnormal, persistent fear of nosebleeds Numbers — Arithmophobia or Numerophobia An unexplained fear of numbers Opinions — Allodoxaphobia A fear of other people’s opinions. Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth — Arachibutyrophobia A persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. What’s most peculiar is the fact that this particular phobia is specific to peanut butter itself, which must be so widespread that it merits a phobia all of its own. Phobias — Phobophobia A morbid dread or fear of developing a phobia. Politicians — Politicophobia Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians. Relatives — Syngenesophobia The fear of relatives. Could fear of meeting a new lover’s rellies qualify? I believe this circumstance could be well justified.

Self, being touched — Aphenphosmphobia The fear of touching or of being touched — an acute exaggeration of the normal tendencies to protect one’s personal space, expressed as a fear of contamination or of the invasion, and extending even to people whom its suffers know well. Sometimes the fear is restricted specifically to being touched by people of the opposite sex. It’s often associated with a fear of sexual assault with women. Dorais reports that many boys who have been victims of sexual abuse have a fear of being touched, quoting one victim who describes being touched as something that “burns like fire,” causing him to freeze up or lash out Sitting — Cathisophobia or Thaasophobia The fear from sitting can affect people who perform activities related to pain with sitting. Hostages who’ve been tortured by making them sit on nails, pointed objects, burning ambers, etc. sometimes fear from sitting. Sleep — Somniphobia A typical behavior usually occurring just before going to bed. Sufferers feel that once asleep they may not wake up again. Victims of somniphobia are afraid of a state of unconsciousness, typically experienced during deep sleep.

Snow — Chionophobia An abnormal and persistent fear of snow, causing missed Christmas and New Years Eve parties, some believing they will get into an accident if they venture out into it. Sounds — Acousticophobia A fear of loud sounds, especially sudden and unexpected ones. Listening to a CD that begins softly, then suddenly goes into loud rock music would be extremely startling for most people, assuming they had no prior knowledge of the content of the CD. Being startled is in itself a normal reaction, but the key difference is that people with Phonophobia actively fear such an occurrence. Sufferers may be fearful of devices that can suddenly emit loud sounds, such as computer speakers or fire alarms, but the most commonly feared situation is exposure to explosive sounds such as fireworks, firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices at events or festivals. Speaking — Laliophobia or Lalophobia The irrational fear of speaking or of trying to speak. Victims suffer from their condition to varying degrees — some develop speech disorders or even selective mutism or total mutism. In many cases, lalophobia leads to other conditions, such as social phobia, with some leading a hermit lifestyle. String — Linonophobia The abnormal fear of string.

Teeth — Odontophobia A morbid fear of teeth. Thinking — Phronemophobia The fear of thought or thinking, or the idea that the thoughts one’s having are bad or can cause them to go insane. Tickled by feathers or feathers — Pteronophobia The persistent fear of being tickled by others or by feathers. Ugliness — Cacophobia An uncommon fear of ugliness. Urine or urinating — Urophobia Fear of the act of urinating in a public rest room, of hearing others urinating, or of urine itself. It’s often linked with social phobias. Ventriloquist’s dummy — Automatonophobia Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, or wax statues. For some odd reason, this phobia seems well justified. Witches and Witchcraft — Wiccaphobia An abnormal and persistent fear of witches and witchcraft. Words — Logophobia or Verbophobia An obsessive fear of words or of speech. Words, long — Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia The length of the phobic term is rather ironic to its meaning — the fear of long words.

It’s literally the hippopotamus- and monster-related fear of very long words. Work — Ergophobia or Ponophobia While many may joke about this, it’s a bonified phobia — rejection of the work environment, the act of performing duties or having to be part of a team going towards a common goal. Sufferers experience undue anxiety about the workplace environment even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may be a combination of fears of failing at assigned tasks, speaking before groups at work, or socializing with co-workers. Fearing the Worst: 10 Most Unusual Phobias Home » Monologue | Dialogue » Fearing the Worst: 10 Most Unusual Phobias Fearing the Worst: 10 Most Unusual Phobias A round up of the ten strangest phobias and their etymology. Find great conversation starters here. #1: Haphephobia What it is: A morbid fear of being touched. Origin: Haptein is a Greek word that means to fasten (that is, to bring two things together).

Did you know: Haptics is the English word for “a science concerned with the sense of touch,” used in technologies like touch-screen displays that let users feel clicks. #2: Doraphobia What it is: The dread of touching the skin or fur of an animal. Origin: The Greek word dora means “the skin or hide of an animal.” Did you know: The root word dora comes from the Greek verb derein, meaning “to skin or to flay.” This is also the source of derm, the Greek word for skin, which shows up in words like “dermatology”. #3: Eremophobia What it is: The morbid dread of being alone. Origin: The Greek word erēmia means desert (a place where there are no other people). Did you know: The word hermit shares the same Greek root, but a hermit may find solace rather than dread in solitude. #4: Ergophobia What it is: A fear of or aversion to work. Origin: Ergon is the Greek word for work. Did you know: This word shows a family resemblance to the words ergonomic and ergometer. #5: Hypnophobia What it is: The morbid fear of sleep.

Origin: Hypnos is the Greek word for sleep. Did you know: Hypnotize is a word that shares the same Greek roots. #6: Brontophobia What it is: An abnormal fear of thunder. Origin: Bronto is from the Greek word that means thunder. Did you know: The same root gives us the name of the brontosaurus (literally, “thunder lizard”). #7: Kakorrhaphiophobia What it is: An abnormal fear of failure. Origin: The Greek word kakorrhaphia means a clever or devious plot or plan, derived from kakos, meaning bad or evil. Did you know: The English word cacophony shares the same Greek roots. #8: Ophidiophobia What it is: An abnormal fear of snakes. Origin: Ophis is the Greek word for snake. Did you know: Two other English words with similar roots are ophiomorphic, meaning “snakelike in form” and ophiophagous, which means “feeding on snakes.” #9: Taphephobia What it is: Fear of being buried alive. Origin: The Greek word taphē means burial or grave.

Did you know: You can see the same Greek root in the English word epitaph (an inscription on a tomb). #10: Phobophobia What it is: An excessive fear of acquiring a phobia. Origin: The Greek word phobos means “fear or flight.” Did you know: When there’s nothing left to fear but fear itself, this word is the perfect double whammy of the Greek word for fear.

Question: Ergophobia is the morbid fear of what?
Answer: Work