2016-01-21

Entry tags:

Thursday word: kakorrhaphiophobia

kakorrhaphiophobia (kak-uh-raf-ee-uh-FOH-bee-uh) - n., the abnormal fear of failure.


Which can, of course, be crippling -- preventing one from even even attempting in the first place. A synonym, possibly slightly more common, is atychiphobia (and is the form used in French). As for etymology, I'm a little baffled: the dictionaries say it's from Greek root kako-, meaning bad/evil, but are silent on the -rhaphio- part. Anyone have access to an OED that can shed some light on the matter?

His kakorrhaphiophobia keeps him from applying for another job.

---L.