phobia English · revision 853

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfəʊ.bi.ə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈfoʊ.bi.ə/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a use as a word of [[-phobia]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from Late Latin and New Latin compounds in ''-phobia'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) from [[grc|φόβος|tr=phóbos|t=fear, panic; originally flight]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Fear, horror or aversion, especially of a morbid character (1786).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Greek ''phóbos'' originally meant “flight”, its only sense in Homer, and became the common word for fear through the notion of panic flight.^(Etymonline) The English word was perhaps based on a similar use in French.^(Etymonline) The psychological sense, an abnormal and irrational fear of a particular thing, is recorded by 1895.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Phobic'' dates from 1897, and as a noun, a person with a phobia, from about 1968.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1786 – fear, aversion.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1895 – an abnormal, irrational fear (psychology).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1897 – ''phobic''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A persistent, abnormal or irrational fear of a particular thing or situation that makes one avoid it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A strong fear, dislike or aversion.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[phobic]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[-phobe]]

+ * [[-phobia]]

+ * [[-phobic]]

+ * [[fear]]

+ * [[Phobos]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}