treiskaidekaphobia

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek τρεισκαίδεκα (treiskaídeka, thirteen) + -phobia.

Noun[edit]

treiskaidekaphobia (uncountable)

  1. (uncommon) Alternative form of triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13.
    • 1965, Mario Pei, The Story of Language, page 254:
      Our own feeling about thirteen, especially when joined with Friday, has added another to the long list of phobias; treiskaidekaphobia, or "fear of the number thirteen" (some of the other phobias are the well-known claustro-, acro-, and agora-, fear of being closed in, of heights, of open spaces, respectively; less known are ailurophobia, "fear of cats," iatrophobia, "fear of doctors," nucleomitotophobia,[sic] "fear of atomic bombs," mageiricophobia, "fear of having to cook," and, recalling FDR, phobophobia, "fear of fear itself.")