hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (English)
Where does "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" come from?
The English noun 'hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia', meaning the fear of long words[1], is a playful modern formation. It builds upon the adjective 'hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian'[1], which itself extends 'sesquipedalian' by incorporating combining forms of the Latin 'monstrum' meaning 'monster' and the word 'hippopotamus' to humorously exaggerate the idea of long words[1][4]. To this extended base, the suffix '-phobia', ultimately derived from Ancient Greek 'φόβος' meaning 'fear'[2], was added to denote the phobia itself[1].
Open questions
- The exact formulation combines sesquipedalian with ad hoc elements intended to make the construct autological. [1] [4]
Full etymology tree
- hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (English), 'The fear of long words.'
- affix hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (English), 'Of or pertaining to extremely long words.'
- contraction sesquipedalian (English), 'A long word.'
- contraction hippopotamus (English), 'A semi-aquatic, herbivorous, African hoofed mammal of the family Hippopotamidae.'
- contraction monstrum (Latin), 'a divine omen indicating misfortune, an evil omen, portent'
- suffix -phobia (English), 'Used to form nouns meaning fear of a specific thing.'
- affix hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (English), 'Of or pertaining to extremely long words.'
Ancestors
Related words
Sources
- hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (English) - Wiktionary
- phobia (English) - Wiktionary
- bʰegʷ- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
- hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (English) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris