Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
fear oflong words .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, an extension of sesquipedalian with monstrum ("monster") and a truncated, misspelled form of hippopotamus, intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared; combined with phobia.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.
Examples
-
One word he learned from Wasson was "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia," which means fear of long words.
unknown title 2009
-
Sorry for the sesquipedalianism, and my apologies to those who suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. heh heh heh .... love ya Rex, even with all yer far right winger warts that you grew during the Bush Years.
-
Sorry for the sesquipedalianism, and my apologies to those who suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. heh heh heh .... love ya Rex, even with all yer far right winger warts that you grew during the Bush Years.
valse commented on the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
A concept that might seem absurd to a Wordie...and obviously a joke word, by the way. Don't know who came up with it.
January 4, 2007
michaelchang commented on the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
— fear of long words. Hippopoto- "big" due to its allusion to the Greek-derived word hippopotamus (though this is derived as hippo- "horse" compounded with potam-os "river", so originally meaning "river horse"; according to the Oxford English, hippopotamine has been construed as large since 1847, so this coinage is reasonable); -monstr- is from Latin words meaning "monstrous", -o- is a pseudo-Greek noun-compounding vowel; -sesquipedali- comes from "sesquipedalian" meaning a long word (literally "a foot and a half long" in Latin), -o- is a pseudo-Greek noun-compounding vowel, and -phobia means "fear". Note: This was mentioned on the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as one of Tickle's Teasers.
November 21, 2007
mollusque commented on the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
The earliest instance I can find is
". . . arachibutyrophobia, fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth, and hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, fear of long words!"
--Dennis Coon, 1991, Essentials of Psychology: Exploration and Application, p. 505
November 15, 2008
sionnach commented on the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
And if that hippo should chomp your red-nosed reindeer, it's just another case of rhodorhinorangifericide.
May 22, 2009
guardgirliexoxo commented on the word hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
The fear of long words. As in "he couldn't say onomatopoeia because he had hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia."
June 9, 2009