Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ocnophil

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: oc-nophil
IPA

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A personality type characterised by avoidance of dangerous of unfamiliar situations, and the reliance on other people for security.

Example Sentences

"Coordinate term: philobat"
"People who need other people around them much of the time are people whose well-being depends massively on the feelings of others towards them. This alarms the philobats (the spacebats), but the ocnophils (the homebodies) like it that way."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀκνέω (oknéō, “to shrink from, fear, hesitate”) + -o- + -phile with the final "e" dropped. Coined by Hungarian psychoanalyst Michael Balint in 1955.

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: ὀκνέω

Inflected Forms

ocnophils (plural)

Derived Forms

ocnophilic

Questions

What does ocnophil mean?: A personality type characterised by avoidance of dangerous of unfamiliar situations, and the reliance on other people for security.
Where does ocnophil come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce ocnophil

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