trypophobia

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌtɹɪpəˈfəʊbi.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

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

trypophobia (uncountable)

1. (psychology) An irrational or obsessive fear of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes, such as those found in honeycombs.
   • 2013 October, G G. Cole, A J. Wilkins, “Fear of Holes”, in Psychological science, volume 24, number 10, →DOI, , 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.

   • 2015, Irena Milosevic, Trypophobia (Fear of Holes), Irena Milosevic, Randi E. McCabe (editors), Phobias: The Psychology of Irrational Fear, ABC-CLIO (Greenwood), page 401,

     In particular, individuals with trypophobia are fearful of clusters of holes that are found in a variety of objects and matter such as skin, coral, honeycombs, seed pods, and even aerated chocolate.

• trypophobe
• trypophobic

• trypophobia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia