syphilophobia

English

Alternative forms

• syphiliphobia

Etymology

syphilo- +‎ -phobia

Noun

syphilophobia (countable and uncountable, plural syphilophobias)

1. A morbid fear of syphilis.
   • 1932, Gregorio Marañón, The evolution of sex and intersexual conditions, page 190:

     Sexual fear with regard to the woman may assume various modalities which disguise it from the instinct itself; the most frequent are syphilophobia and gonophobia, and also the suspicion of being deceived, of being made a cuckold,...

   • 1995, Suzanne Poirier, Chicago's War on Syphilis, 1937-40, →ISBN:

     Similarly, testing groups that are already socially marginal can further exacerbate syphilophobia as well as the existing prejudices against these groups.

   • 2011, Vanessa H. May, Unprotected Labor, →ISBN:

     Part of the answer lies in the wave of “syphilophobia” that engulfed the country during the 1930s and 1940s.

Usage notes

• Formerly sometimes distinguished from syphilomania. The condition was regarded as a mania in those who did not have syphilis, and a phobia in those who did.