aibohphobia en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
Deliberately constructed to be a palindrome, combining the suffix -phobia with its reversed spelling. First appeared as a response to National Challenge #36, in a newspaper column written by J Baxter Newgate. The challenge was to invent a phobia. The column did not identify the entrant. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, Oct 22, 1977)
Meanings
-
(humorous, nonce-word, uncountable) An irrational fear of palindromes.
The article was a disservice to those of us who are unfortunate enough to be afflicted with aibohphobia.
1983, Author unknown, Science Digest, page 103:If you suffer from aibohphobia (fear of palindromes) you should skip a few pages while the rest of us go in search of[…]
2004, Peter Seddon, Football Talk: The Language and Folklore of the World's Greatest Game, page 267:We trust that we've relieved any Aibohphobia, any fear of palindromes that you might have harbored.
1997, Richard Lederer, The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book, page 60:We hope, however, that in passing this on we don't provoke any attacks of aibohphobia among our readers. This pallindrome, as Alan Lane discovered, means "an abnormal and persistent fear of pallindromes".
2006 Feb, NewScientist, page 56, column 3:
Antonyms
Translations (17)
fr eibohphobie (irrational fear of palindromes) · hu aibófóbia (irrational fear of palindromes) · hu nyosziszony (irrational fear of palindromes) · bg яибофо́бия (irrational fear of palindromes) · it aibofobia (irrational fear of palindromes) · hy աիբոֆոբիա (irrational fear of palindromes) · ka აიბოფობია (irrational fear of palindromes) · pl aibofobia (irrational fear of palindromes) · es aibofobia (irrational fear of palindromes) · ru яибофо́бия (irrational fear of palindromes) · fy ybofoby (irrational fear of palindromes) · lt ajibofobija (irrational fear of palindromes) · nl eibofobie (irrational fear of palindromes) · de Eibohphobie (irrational fear of palindromes) · lv ajibofobija (irrational fear of palindromes) · ko 아비포비아 (irrational fear of palindromes) · eo oibofobio (irrational fear of palindromes)