hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (English)
Where does "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" come from?
This playful term is a modern construction designed to be ironic, combining the Latin root 'sesquipedalian', meaning 'a foot and a half long', with 'monstrum' for monster and 'hippopotamus' to emphasize huge size. It traces its suffix 'phobia' back to the Ancient Greek 'phobos,' meaning 'fear,' which roots deep in the Proto-Indo-European word for 'to flee.' Ultimately, the word serves as a humorous linguistic giant intended to represent the very thing it describes: an irrational fear of long words.
Full etymology tree
- hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (English), 'The fear of long words.'
- compound hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (English), 'Of or pertaining to extremely long words.'
- derived sesquipedalian (English), 'A long word.'
- inherited sēsquipedālis (Latin), 'A foot and a half, half a yard'
- derived hippopotamus (Latin), 'a hippopotamus'
- borrowed ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos) (Ancient Greek), 'hippopotamus'
- derived monstrum (Latin), 'a divine omen indicating misfortune, an evil omen, portent'
- inherited *monestrom (Proto-Italic)
- derived sesquipedalian (English), 'A long word.'
- suffix -phobia (Latin)
- borrowed -φοβία (-phobía) (Ancient Greek), '-phobia'
- derived φόβος (phóbos) (Ancient Greek), 'fear, terror, alarm, fright, panic'
- inherited *bʰegʷ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to flee'
- derived φόβος (phóbos) (Ancient Greek), 'fear, terror, alarm, fright, panic'
- borrowed -φοβία (-phobía) (Ancient Greek), '-phobia'
- compound hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (English), 'Of or pertaining to extremely long words.'
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris