sesquipedalophobia (English)
Where does "sesquipedalophobia" come from?
Sesquipedalophobia, the fear of long words, derives from the Latin 'sesquipedalis,' which literally means 'a foot and a half long.' This term blends the Latin 'sesqui' (one and a half) with 'pes' (foot), a root that also gave us the English word 'foot.' The suffix '-phobia' was then added to this already descriptive, tongue-in-cheek term to signify the literal phobia of length.
Full etymology tree
- sesquipedalophobia (English), 'Fear of long words.'
- compound sesquipedalian (English), 'A long word.'
- derived sesquipedal (English), 'Measuring or containing a foot and a half.'
- inherited sēsquipedālis (Latin), 'A foot and a half, half a yard'
- compound sēsqui- (Latin), '1½; 1½ times'
- compound pedālis (Latin), 'foot'
- compound pēs (Latin), 'a foot, in its senses as'
- inherited *pets (Proto-Italic), 'foot'
- inherited *pṓds (Proto-Indo-European), 'foot'
- derived *ped- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to walk, to step'
- suffix *-s (Proto-Indo-European), 'Derives feminine mobile-accented root nouns from roots.'
- inherited *pṓds (Proto-Indo-European), 'foot'
- inherited *pets (Proto-Italic), 'foot'
- suffix -ālis (Latin), 'Suffixed to nouns or numerals creating adjectives of relationship.'
- compound pēs (Latin), 'a foot, in its senses as'
- inherited sēsquipedālis (Latin), 'A foot and a half, half a yard'
- suffix -ian (English), 'From, related to, or like.'
- derived sesquipedal (English), 'Measuring or containing a foot and a half.'
- compound -phobia (English), 'Used to form nouns meaning fear of a specific thing.'
- compound sesquipedalian (English), 'A long word.'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris