Coulrophobia
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The fear of clowns. uncountable
"[…] to develop coulrophobia. On the seventh, clowns from around the world […] congregate at London's Holy Trinity Church for the annual Grimaldi Memorial Service."
Example
More examples"Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns."
Etymology
Coined in the late 1980s or 1990s, of unknown origin, appearing first, without further explanation, in lists of phobias circulating on the Internet. First use appears c. 1997 according to the OED. According to a widespread theory, the term is based on Ancient Greek κωλοβαθριστής (kōlobathristḗs, “one who goes on stilts”), allegedly chosen for lack of an obvious Ancient Greek equivalent of “clown”, + -phobia (“fear of”). This theory fails to explain the alteration of colo- to coulro-.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.