Strangest phobia names: 28 weird fears, real or joke

The strangest phobia names are a mix of two things. Some are jokes that were never meant to describe anyone’s real fear, like the fear that a duck is watching you. Others sound like jokes but describe fears that doctors have actually diagnosed and treated, like the fear of cheese or chickens.

This guide covers 28 of the oddest names on our site. Every phobia page here tells you which kind it is, using one of four labels: recognized presentation, common informal term, rare or disputed term, or fictional or humorous term. We start with the four most famous joke names, then list the rest.

Anatidaephobia: the fear that a duck is watching you

This is the internet’s favorite fake phobia. Cartoonist Gary Larson coined it in a 1988 Far Side comic, building it from Anatidae, the scientific family name for ducks. Wiktionary: anatidaephobia Larson also gave us luposlipaphobia, the fear of being chased by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a freshly waxed floor. Wikipedia: List of phobias

The duck joke works because it follows every rule of real phobia names and aims them at the least scary watcher possible. Read more about anatidaephobia.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia: fear of long words

The word for fear of long words is 35 letters long, and that’s the joke. Dictionaries label it humorous and point to sesquipedalophobia as the plainer term. Wiktionary: hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia Some people really do dread long words, usually because they’re afraid of stumbling while reading aloud. Read more about hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. A shorter word built on the same kind of joke is aibohphobia, the fear of palindromes, which reads the same backwards.

Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth

The name comes from Latin words for peanut and butter. It’s often credited to Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, who used it in a 1982 strip, but a student newspaper printed it in 1977. Wiktionary: arachibutyrophobia Wikipedia: List of phobias Nobody is diagnosed with it. Read more about arachibutyrophobia.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: fear of the number 666

This one is Greek for “six hundred sixty-six” plus -phobia, 29 letters in all. The number’s reputation comes from the Book of Revelation. Unlike the other three, the fear behind it has shown up in real life: people and governments have changed addresses, road numbers, and even a bus route to avoid 666. Wikipedia: Number of the beast Read more about hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

Honorable mentions: odd names for real fears

These sound made up, but each describes a fear that some people really live with. Some are recognized by clinicians, and others are informal names for real experiences.

• Alektorophobia: fear of chickens. A published case report describes a young woman diagnosed with it and treated successfully.
• Turophobia: fear of cheese. A published case report describes it as a specific phobia, so it isn’t just a joke. Its leafy cousin is lachanophobia, the fear of vegetables.
• Gephyrophobia: fear of crossing bridges. Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge will even send staff to drive your car across.
• Arithmophobia: fear of numbers. Some people fear all numbers, while others fear unlucky ones like 4, 13, or 666.
• Telephobia: fear of making or answering phone calls. Surveys suggest it’s especially common in younger adults.
• Scopophobia: fear of being stared at. It often overlaps with social anxiety.
• Gelotophobia: fear of being laughed at. Psychologists have studied it for years, and it can be miserable to live with.
• Cherophobia: fear of happiness. Researchers built a scale to measure it and tested it in 14 national groups.
• Decidophobia: fear of making decisions. Philosopher Walter Kaufmann coined the word in 1973.
• Anuptaphobia: fear of being single. Researchers have studied how it pushes people to settle for less. A 1998 BBC list of fears featured it next to venustraphobia, the fear of beautiful women.
• Ergophobia: fear of work. Online it’s mostly a joke, but researchers have studied something close to it called workplace phobia.
• Chronophobia: fear of time passing. Birthdays and the end of the year can set it off.
• Eisoptrophobia: fear of mirrors, or of what might show up in them.
• Phasmophobia: fear of ghosts. It’s also the name of a 2020 ghost-hunting video game.
• Nomophobia: fear of being without your phone. It’s a widely used informal term for a very modern worry.
• Coulrophobia: fear of clowns. Pop culture didn’t help this one. Mannequins, wax figures, and robots unsettle some people in a similar way, and that fear is called automatonophobia.

Honorable mentions: superstitions, history, and borderline cases

These names come from superstitions, history, or words whose meaning has drifted over time. Some describe fears people really have, and others are mostly curiosities.

• Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13. It’s so common that many buildings skip the 13th floor.
• Tetraphobia: fear of the number 4. In parts of East Asia, “four” sounds almost like “death,” so some buildings have no 4th floor.
• Taphophobia: fear of being buried alive. In 19th-century Germany alone, more than 30 safety coffin designs were patented.
• Samhainophobia: fear of Halloween. It’s named after Samhain, a Gaelic festival on November 1.
• Papaphobia: fear of the pope. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary included it, but it’s not a diagnosis.
• Kinemortophobia: fear of zombies. A 2013 article in a CDC journal traced zombie folklore back to West Africa.
• Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers. It started as a term for how adults judge young people, not as a personal phobia.
• Pteronophobia: fear of feathers. Joke lists say it means fear of being tickled by feathers, but dictionaries define it as plain fear of feathers.

How we label these words

We include joke words because people search for them, and they deserve a straight answer. That doesn’t make them diagnoses. Each phobia page carries a label that tells you whether a term is a recognized presentation, an informal name, a rare or disputed term, or a joke.

A clinician won’t care what a fear is called. A specific phobia is a marked, lasting fear of something that’s out of proportion to the danger and leads to avoidance or strong distress. APA Dictionary of Psychology If a fear on this list, joke name or not, is shaping your life, that’s what counts. Our fear versus phobia guide can help you work out which side of the line you’re on, and the full A to Z list has every phobia on the site.