trypophobia

English

WOTD – 28 November 2017

Etymology

The holes in the seedheads of lotuses (such as this Nelumbo nucifera) induce trypophobia in some people

From Ancient Greek τρύπα (trúpa, “hole”) +‎ -phobia (from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear, phobia”)), said to have been coined by a blogger from Ireland in 2005.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌtɹɪpəˈfəʊbi.ə/
  • (General American) enPR: trĭ'pə-fōʹbē-ə, IPA(key): /ˌtɹɪpəˈfoʊbi.ə/
  • Rhymes: -əʊbiə
  • Hyphenation: try‧po‧pho‧bia

Noun

trypophobia (uncountable)

  1. An irrational or obsessive fear of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes, such as those found in honeycombs. [from 2005]
    • 2013 October, G[eoff] G. Cole; A[rnold] J. Wilkins, “Fear of Holes”, in Psychological science, volume 24, number 10, DOI:10.1177/0956797613484937, PMID 23982244, pages 1980–1985:
      Images of lotus seed heads are often reported as inducing trypophobia. Sufferers of trypophobia report that it is the visual percept that is particularly aversive.
    • 2014, Brandon Sanderson, chapter 14, in Legion: Skin Deep, [London]: Orion Publishing Group, published 2015, →ISBN:
      I barely noticed Tobias's schizophrenia anymore, let alone Ivy's trypophobia. But the madness was there, lurking.
    • 2015, An T. D. Le; G[eoff] G. Cole; A[rnold] J. Wilkins, “Assessment of Trypophobia and an Analysis of Its Visual Precipitation”, in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 68, number 11, DOI:10.1080/17470218.2015.1013970, PMID 25635930, abstract, page 2304:
      We developed and validated a symptom scale that can be used to identify "trypophobia", in which individuals experience aversion induced by images of clusters of circular objects. […] [W]e found that clusters of concave objects (holes) did not induce significantly more discomfort than clusters of convex objects (bumps), suggesting that trypophobia involves images with particular spectral profile rather than clusters of holes per se.
    • 2015, Irena Milosevic, “Trypophobia (Fear of Holes)”, in Irena Milosevic and Randi E. McCabe, editors, Phobias: The Psychology of Irrational Fear: The Psychology of Irrational Fear, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 402:
      The prevalence of trypophobia in the general population is not known. However, preliminary research suggests that the tendency to experience aversion in response to trypophobic stimuli is relatively common.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “Louise” (23 May 2005), “Trypophobia”, in A Phobia of Holes, Yahoo! GeoCities‎, archived from the original on 16 March 2009: see Jennifer Abbasi (26 July 2011), “Is Trypophobia a Real Phobia?: We Investigate the Fear of Creepy Clustered Holes”, in Popular Science‎, archived from the original on 12 September 2017.

Further reading

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