Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia is the fear of long words. It is mostly a joke from the fact that it is a long word itself. The phobia is the second longest word in the English language. Sesquipedalophobia is another term for the phobia.

The American Psychiatric Association doesn’t officially recognize this phobia. Instead, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is considered a social phobia. There is not much evidence people actually have this phobia.

However, some people who could possibly have this fear are people who struggled with learning as a child, and spelling long words may bring them great anxiety or fear. This could also stem from social anxiety or another phobia.