How to Pronounce the Fear of Long Words

Co-authored by Stephanie Jeret

Last Updated: January 2, 2024

The fear of long words is ironically called hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. It may seem daunting at first, but if you take your time and break the word up into pieces, it is actually quite easy to pronounce, some might think this phobia is made up but quite frankly it is the official fear of long words.

Things You Should Know

Pronounce "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" like "hippo-pa-toe-mon-stro-ses-quipped-alley-oh-phobia."

Steps

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It is hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.^{[1]
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Hippopoto-monstro-sesuiquipedalio-phobia. Hippopoto is the misspelled form of Hippopotamus, Monstro comes from the Latin Monstrum, meaning Monster, Sesquipedalio comes from Sesquipedalian, a very long word, and lastly Phobia, an extreme or irrational fear of something.^{[2]
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Hippo-poto-monstro-sesqui-pedalio-phobia.
It is pronounced Hi-poh.^{[3]
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Pronounce it as Po-toh.
Say Mon-stroh.
Pronounce Ses-kwee.
This is pronounced as Peh-dah-leejoh.
Say it like Foh-beejah.
Hi-poh-po-toh-mon-stroh-ses-kwee-peh-dah-leejoh-foh-beeja.^{[4]
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^{[5]
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Why do people get scared of long words?

Community Answer

People have all different kinds of phobias (fears), some more unusual than others. There's really no explaining why it happens, people are just born that way.

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How do I stop being scared of long words?

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You could start with smaller words and slowly get into bigger words.

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Why are people scared of long words?

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It depends for different people, because some may just not know the words while others may be legitimately intimidated by the words for several different reasons.

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Tips

Many people leave an ever so small pause between Hippopotomonstro and Sesquipedalophobia. This is because to prevent struggling with the word and for better pronunciation.

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If you can read the International Phonetic Alphabet, this may help to pronounce the word: /ˌhɪ.pə.pɒ.təˈmɒn.strəˌsɛ.skwɪ.pɪˈdeɪ.lɪəˌfoʊ.bɪə/.

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