-phobe
/-foʊb/
"phobe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“-phobe” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used to form nouns denoting a person having a fear of a specific thing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-phobe · -phobe · English
-phobe · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "-" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | -phobe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | /-foʊb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “-phobe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
-phobe is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed /-foʊb/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for -phobe in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French -phobe, from Latin -phobus, from Attic Greek -φόβος (-phóbos), combining form of φόβος (phóbos), ablaut variant of φέβεσθαι (phébesthai), middle infinitive of φέβομαι (phébomai), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰegʷ. Cognates include Russian бегать (… The correct English form is -phobe, spelled --P-H-O-B-E.
Definition
- 1Used to form nouns denoting a person having a fear of a specific thing.
- 2Used to form nouns denoting a person who hates or dislikes a type of person, thing, etc.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how -phobe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
claustrophobe
Risk is everywhere.[…]For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles”[…]aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
Etymology
From French -phobe, from Latin -phobus, from Attic Greek -φόβος (-phóbos), combining form of φόβος (phóbos), ablaut variant of φέβεσθαι (phébesthai), middle infinitive of φέβομαι (phébomai), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰegʷ. Cognates include Russian бегать (begatʹ, “run, flee”), Slovak bežať (“run”), Polish biec (“run”), Lithuanian bėgti (“run”), Albanian dëboj (“throw out, drive away, expel, banish”). Compare German -phob.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.