homophobic

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Indo-European *somHós

Proto-Hellenic *homós

Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós)der.

English homo-

Proto-Indo-European *bʰegʷ-

Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos)

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-íā

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)

Ancient Greek -φοβία (-phobía)der.

Latin

New Latinbor.

English -phobia

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -iquebor.

Middle English -ik

English -ic

English -phobic

English homophobic

From homo- (“homosexual”) + -phobic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊ.məˌfəʊ.bɪk/, /ˈhɒ.mə-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊ.məˌfoʊ.bɪk/
• Rhymes: -əʊbɪk
• Hyphenation: ho‧mo‧pho‧bic

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

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Adjective

homophobic (comparative more homophobic, superlative most homophobic)

1. Exhibiting homophobia; characteristic of homophobes.

   Synonym: anti-gay

   Hypernym: anti-LGBT

   Coordinate term: transphobic

   homophobic abuse

   • 2000 June 6, Nick Hopkins, “The bomber who tried to unleash a race war”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The nail bomber who killed three people and injured dozens of others in a terrifying campaign last spring told police he was a homophobic Nazi, and that he hoped the explosions would "set fire to the country and stir up a racial war", the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

3. (LGBTQ slang, hyperbolic, humorous) Inconvenient, annoying, irritating.

   My bus left right as I got to the station. It's so homophobic of the driver to not wait for me!

   It's homophobic that I'm not cuddling my girlfriend right now.

4. (Internet slang, humorous) Having different colored eyes. Deliberate misspelling of heterochromic. [from 2021]
   • 2025 November 15, u/_kainos_, “Beautiful homophobic deaf cat🧡💙”, in r/catswithhomophobia‎^[2] (Reddit post), archived from the original on 28 November 2025:

     both our algorithms are blessed with homophobic beauty 🥰😍

Usage notes

See homophobia § Usage notes.

Derived terms

• antihomophobic
• homophobically
• nonhomophobic

Related terms

• homophobe
• homophobia

Translations

characteristic of homophobia

• Catalan: homòfob
• French: homophobe (fr)
• Galician: homófobo m, homófoba f
• Georgian: ჰომოფობიური (homopobiuri)
• German: homophob (de), homosexualitätsfeindlich, schwulenfeindlich (de) (colloquial), lesbenfeindlich (regarding lesbians)
• Irish: homafóbach
• Italian: omofobico m, omofobica f, omofobo (it) m, omofoba (it) f
• Polish: homofobiczny (pl)
• Portuguese: homofóbico (pt) m, homofóbica (pt) f, homófobo m, homófoba f
• Russian: гомофо́бный (ru) (gomofóbnyj)
• Scots: homofeart
• Spanish: homofóbico (es), homófobo
• Swedish: homofob (sv), homofobisk (sv)
• Ukrainian: гомофо́бний (homofóbnyj)

Noun

homophobic (plural homophobics)

1. A homophobe.
   • 1981 August 1, Ray Thompson, “Down and Out and Gay”, in Gay Community News, page 10:

     Painful as skid row life is for everyone, it becomes doubly so for the gay segment of the population. If you can for a moment visualize yourself living in a house with hundreds of homophobics you have the idea; and there are few closets where one can hide.

   • 2007, William D. Gairdner, The War Against the Family:

     If you say something negative about homosexuals, you will be labelled an intolerant "homophobic."

   • 2016, Ralph Erber, Maureen Erber, Intimate Relationships: Issues, Theories, and Research, Second Edition:

     When placed in a situation that threatens to excite their repressed or latent sexual preferences, homophobics tend to react with panic, anger, and hostility as a means to avert or deny the threat (West, 1977).