21 unusual phobias

Terms exist to describe groups of animals and other words, and there are even words formed by the combination of two separate words.

Having recently unearthed a new phobia—”aerophobia,” or fear of air travel—I’ve taken an interest in words that describe and pinpoint fears. How many of these phobias do you recognize? (Terms from Oxford Dictionaries, Phobialist.com and Fearof.net.)

1. Asthenophobia: fear of weakness

2. Astrapophobia: fear of lightning

3. Ataxaphobia: fear of disorder or untidiness

4. Atelophobia: fear of imperfection

5. Atychiphobia: fear of failure

6. Automatonophobia: fear of ventriloquist dummies

7. Coulrophobia: fear of clowns

8. Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers

9. Eosophobia: fear of the dawn

10. Katagelophobia: fear of ridicule