Ancient Greek word root · Mind & Feeling

-phobia: fear

-phobia is an Ancient Greek root meaning “fear”. Learn its variants and explore 4 connected words.

Meaning and variants

Meaning: fear

Root forms: -phobia, -phobe, phobo-

Source word: φόβος — fear, terror, alarm, fright, panic

Word family and examples

• homophobia

  Hatred, fear, aversion, or prejudice towards homosexuals.

• claustrophobia

  extreme or irrational fear of confined places

• homophobe

  One who is prejudiced against homosexual people, or LGBTQ people in general; one who exhibits homophobia.

• agoraphobia

  The fear of wide open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions.

Root connections help with vocabulary recall. They are not a complete etymological history, and a spelling match alone does not prove a relationship.

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