The word ‘phobia’ comes to us from Latin (from Greek) meaning something that you fear or dread, usually to an extreme level. Sometimes a phobia can often be considered ‘irrational’ in that there is no specific reason why, for example, you might fear the colour red (the word for that is erythrophobia). In other instances a phobia can imply a strong aversion or hatred, as in ailurophobe, a hatred of cats.
There are of course some of the usual suspects:
claustrophobia: a dread of confined spaces
arachnophobia: a fear of spiders
triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number thirteen
But how well do you know the phobia words below?
