-phobic
/-ˈfəʊbɪk/
"phobic" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“-phobic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used to form adjectives indicating a fear of a specific thing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-phobic · -phobic · English
-phobic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 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 | -phobic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | /-ˈfəʊbɪk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “-phobic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
-phobic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed /-ˈfəʊbɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for -phobic, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From -phobia (from Late Latin -phobia, from Koine Greek -φοβία (-phobía), from φόβος (phóbos, “fear”)) + -ic. The correct English form is -phobic, spelled --P-H-O-B-I-C.
Definition
- 1Used to form adjectives indicating a fear of a specific thing.
- 2Used to form adjectives indicating a dislike or aversion.
- 3Used in biology and chemistry to mean a natural repulsion or avoidance.
- 4Used as a synonym of -phobe to form nouns.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how -phobic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
claustrophobic
bibliophobic
Etymology
From -phobia (from Late Latin -phobia, from Koine Greek -φοβία (-phobía), from φόβος (phóbos, “fear”)) + -ic.
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.