aibohphobia

English

Etymology

Deliberately constructed to be a palindrome, combining the suffix -phobia with its reversed spelling.

Appears first as a response to National Challenge #36 - in a newspaper column written by J Baxter Newgate. The challenge was to invent a phobia. The column did not identify the entrant. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, Oct 22, 1977)

Pronunciation

• enPR: ībōfō'bēə, IPA^(key): /aɪ.bəʊˈfəʊ.bi.ə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊbiə

Noun

aibohphobia (uncountable)

1. (humorous, nonce word) An irrational fear of palindromes.
   • 1983, Author unknown, Science Digest, page 103:

     The article was a disservice to those of us who are unfortunate enough to be afflicted with aibohphobia.

   • 1997, Richard Lederer, The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book, page 60:

     We trust that we've relieved any Aibohphobia, any fear of palindromes that you might have harbored.

   • 2004, Peter Seddon, Football Talk: The Language and Folklore of the World's Greatest Game, page 267:

     If you suffer from aibohphobia (fear of palindromes) you should skip a few pages while the rest of us go in search of […]

   • 2006 Feb, NewScientist, page 56, column 3:

     We hope, however, that in passing this on we don't provoke any attacks of aibohphobia among our readers. This pallindrome, as Alan Lane discovered, means "an abnormal and persistent fear of pallindromes".

Antonyms

• ailihphilia