hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
/ˌhɪ.pəˌpɒ.tə(ʊ)ˈmɒn.stɹə(ʊ)ˌsɛs.kwɪ.pɪˌdɑːl.ɪ.ə(ʊ)ˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
65
Scrabble Score
35
Letters
15
Syllables
16
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Ben suffers from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, so he seldom uses words of more than three syllables."
- "However, we assume that despite the best endeavours of science, some phobias will always remain. These include paraskavedekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th. And hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, which is fear of long words."
- "Those who find this column troubling are suffering from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia—the fear of long words. Or, more likely, rupophobia—a fear of rubbish."
- "Coincidentally there is a masochistic PCP with hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words) curled up in an alleyway across the street. He has been whispering “Antidisestablishmentarianism” to himself over and over for two days now, experiencing up to one orgasm every three hours as a result of The Pain […]"
Etymology
From hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, in turn an extension of sesquipedalian with ad hoc combining forms of Latin monstrum (“monster”) and hippopotamus (intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared), + -phobia.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˌhɪ.pəˌpɒ.tə(ʊ)ˈmɒn.stɹə(ʊ)ˌsɛs.kwɪ.pɪˌdɑːl.ɪ.ə(ʊ)ˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/