-phobe

American  

Also -phobiac.

1. a combining form used to form personal nouns corresponding to nouns ending in -phobia:

   Anglophobe.

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-phobe British  

combining form

1. indicating a person or thing that fears or hates

   Germanophobe

   xenophobe

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Usage

What does -phobe mean? The combining form -phobe is used like a suffix to indicate the personal noun form of words that use the form -phobia, meaning “fear.” The form -phobe roughly means "someone with a fear." It is often used in scientific terms, especially in psychology and biology.The form -phobe comes from Greek phóbos, meaning “fear” or “panic.” The Latin translation is timor, “fear,” which is the source of words such as timid and timorous.What are variants of -phobe?A less common variant of -phobe is -phobiac, as in agoraphobiac.The form -phobe is also related to two other combining forms: -phobia and -phobic. Want to know more? Check out our Words that Use articles for each form.

Other Word Forms

• -phobic combining form

Etymology

Origin of -phobe

From Greek -phobos, adjectival derivative of phóbos “panic fear”

Example Sentences

Not touched on here is a fallacy of logic that skews, and may too often doom, arguments especially from the left: The mere fact that if something were true, it would be bad, unfair, unfortunate, or even 'ist' or 'phobe', does not make it untrue.

From New York Times

There's plenty for both phile and phobe to grab on to.

From The Guardian

Celt–o–phobe Liz is determined to nix the occasion by dressing in Protestant orange and staying indoors with Criss, "laughing at excerpts from Angela's Ashes".

From The Guardian

Well, I’m a former math phobe.

From Scientific American

By that expansive definition, courage becomes democratized and demilitarized, the property of any wallflower who manages to give the convention speech, or the math phobe who decides to take calculus.

From New York Times