phobo-, phob-, -phobia, -phobias, -phobe, -phobiac, -phobist, -phobic, -phobism, -phobous

(Greek: fear, extreme fear of; morbid, excessive, irrational fear, or terror of something or someone; however, sometimes this Greek element also means a strong dislike, dread, or hatred for something or someone)


For more details about the various phobias, visit this Phobias Introduction page to see Phobia Variations Defined and Explained.

There are only two forces that unite men: fear and self-interest.

—Napoleon Bonparte
enophobia, oenophobia (ee" nah FOH bee uh) (s) (noun); enophobias, oenophobias (pl)
An excessive hatred of wine or a fear of what it might do if one drinks it: Charles had an oenophobia based on his family history and so he never imbibed alcohol in any form, not even in medicinal compounds.

After experiencing her friend becoming an alcoholic, Susan had a horror of consuming such a fermented juice or other alcoholic beverage because of what it could do to a person and refrained from buying or drinking it.

enoptrophobiac (s) (noun), enoptrophobiacs (pl)
A person who has an abnormal fear of mirrors: Joe's sister was seeing a psychiatrist because she believed herself to be an enoptrophobiac and wanted to overcome her fear of shining surfaces that reflected her face.
enoptrophobic (adjective), more enoptrophobic, most enoptrophobic
Descriptive of a person's condition of being repulsed by reflecting surfaces or of seeing oneself in them: Covering windows and not having any mirrors or other smooth polished flat areas may be common enoptrophobic behaviors of people who are afraid of seeing their images on any shining objects.
entomophobia (s) (noun), entomophobias (pl)
An irrational dread and revulsion of insects: Thomas, suffering from entomophobia and hating all kinds of bugs, woke up one morning, found a spider near his bed, and jumped up crying out in horror!
A natural phobia about having bugs in the bed.

Word Info image © Copyright, 2006.
entonophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
An extreme dislike and hatred of ticks: Linda, afflicted with entonophobia, never liked to work in the garden because she was overly afraid of getting bitten by a small parasitic arachnid from the grass or bushes she was near.
eophobia, eosophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
An extreme fear of the dawn: After having spent many years in a very dark cell in prison, the inmate had euphobia, a horror of daylight and the sun rising!

In some cases eosophobia can cause a depression in a person because he or she wants to continue to sleep and not get up and face the activities of the day!

epistaxiophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
The dread of a nosebleed: Ever since Sandy was a toddler and noticed red liquid coming out from one of her nostrils, she was abnormally worried and concerned about dying and, as a consequence, suffered from epistaxiophobia.

Symptoms of having this problem, or seeing someone with it, may result in a lowering of blood pressure, a reduction of one's breathing rate, and a feeling of weakness or even a fainting spell.

equinophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
An abnormal fear of horses: Jenny, affected by equinophobia, was very small when she came into close contact with the old nag on her grandfather's farm and was petrified at its imposing size, weight, and large teeth, and from then on had an aversion toward such animals, including donkeys and mules.
eremiophobia, eremophobia (s) (noun)
In psychology, an irrational dislike of being alone and of uninhabited places: Timothy just couldn't stand being by himself at home or even being isolated from others in any place, and since this was posing problems for him, he went to the doctor who diagnosed him as suffering from eremophobia.
ereuthophobia, erythrophobia, erytophobia, (s) (noun) (no plural)
1. An irrational and persistent dread of blushing: Passion, anger, embarrassment, or romantic situations can cause the reddening of an individual's face, and the constant fear of this can lead to a person being afflicted with erythrophobia.
2. Hypersensitivity to the color red: This phobia can be caused as a conditioned response to the tint of crimson or scarlet, often accompanied by an abnormal panic of blood or hematophobia.
Red screams danger or at the very least inconvenience and annoyance. It's no wonder we do our best to avoid it. Red ink is a sign of trouble in business. Red light stops us in our tracks. Who wants to be caught red-handed?
—Anu Garg
ergasiophobia, ergasophobia, ergophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
1. An abnormal fear, hatred, or avoidance of work: Ergasiophobia can be related to a number of job-related activities, including the dread of speaking in front of groups and socializing with co-workers, or being too slow.
2. A persistent, extreme anxietiy and dread of work related to not performing or functioning to perfection: Dr. Perfect, as a surgeon, suffered from ergophobia in that he was overly afraid in failing to operate successfully and with upmost proficiency and skill.

The world is filled with willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

—Robert Frost

When it works, do it.
Word Info image © ALL rights reserved.

Some people who don't work take advantage of those who do work.
Word Info image © ALL rights reserved.
ergasiophobic (s) (noun), ergasiophobics (pl)
Someone who has a pathological aversion of functioning or acting associated with work: Tom skimmed the ads in the local newspaper looking for a job, but since he tried to avoid work in the first place, he, as an ergasiophobic, never found one he liked!
erythrocyanosis (s) (noun) (no plural)
A condition of slight swelling and a blue or pink tint of the skin of the lower limbs of young girls and women following a prolonged exposure to cold: Susan and Jill noticed a discolouration of their legs after walking so long along the river in the snow, so they returned quickly back to the warmth of their home and found out on the internet that the name of the purple hue was erythrocyanosis!
esodophobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
An aversion to the loss of one's chastity or the loss being caused by some other person: As a young woman, Grace still didn't have a boyfriend because she was quite panicked by the thought of sleeping with a man, therefore she went to her doctor who diagnosed her as having esodophobia.
euphobia (s) (noun) (no plural)
An excessive apprehension of hearing good news: Jeff, suffering from euphobia, was so concerned with the problems of the world that he almost always refrained from any gaiety and laughter, or even of having success.