aporophobia

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noun

The fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them both.

Scrabble 20

Meanings

nounaporophobia (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them both.

    Introducing aporophobia in the catalog of hate crimes is a debate that is still open.

    2017, V Ávila Vázquez, E Garrido Gaitán, La aporofobia como delito de odio y discriminación
    4 more examples

    It's easy calling somebody a racist (and I'm not talking about skinheads or assholes shouting racist things at matches), but the problem I think it's more aporophobia (sp?) than xenophobia.

    2002 October 14, molecule, “I'm dissapointed ^([sic])”, in rec.sport.soccer (Usenet)

    In Latin America, the most dramatic results of discrimination have an element of aporophobia, that is, revulsion and hatred for the poor.

    2008, “Prejudice, discrimination and intergroup conflict”, in Actualidades en psicología, volume 22, number 109

    We would like to introduce a term coined by Adela Cortina which arose recently and that is affiliated to that of exclusion: It is aporophobia (Cortina, 1997). Feeling of refusal is towards poor people, towards those who do not have a way out of their situation. It breeds on the prejudice that poor people are to blame for their own misery. This feeling subdues many behaviours that are essentially racist, xenophobic and it makes difficult not only integration, but also some politics involving realistic aid to immigrants (Martínez, 2002, pp. 17-23). As pointed out by Cortina (1997), “we don’t marginalize the immigrant because he is rich, nor the black if he is a basketball player, nor the retired with patrimony, we marginalize poor people” (p. 70).

    2011, Xavier Mínguez López, “Local literature in a global world? Globalisation, exclusion and multiculturalism in Catalan literature for children and young people”, in Sino-US English Teaching, volume 8, number 5

    It is necessary to confront together the populist discourses of intolerance, xenophobia, and aporophobia, which is hatred of the poor.

    2021, Pope Francis, Video Message of the Holy Father on the occasion of the Fourth World Meeting of Popular Movements

    Synonyms: peniaphobia

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them both.

Also see

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἄπορος“indigent, poor”
  2. Spanishaporofobia
  3. Englishaporophobia

From Spanish aporofobia, from Ancient Greek ἄπορος (áporos, “indigent, poor”) + -phobia, by analogy with xenophobia. Term coined by the Spanish philosopher Adela Cortina in the 1990s.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic رهاب الفقراء
  • رهاب الفقراء (rhāb al-fqrāʔ)fear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Basque aporofobia
  • aporofobiafear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Catalan aporofòbia
  • aporofòbiafear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Esperanto aporofobio, kontraŭmalriĉuleco
  • aporofobiofear, dislike, or hate of poor people
  • kontraŭmalriĉulecofear, dislike, or hate of poor people
French pauvrophobie, aporophobie
  • pauvrophobiefear, dislike, or hate of poor people
  • aporophobiefear, dislike, or hate of poor people
German Aporophobie
  • Aporophobiefear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Italian aporofobia
  • aporofobiafear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Polish strach przed biednymi
  • strach przed biednymifear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Portuguese aporofobia
  • aporofobiafear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Romanian aporofobie
  • aporofobiefear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Russian апорофо́бия
  • апорофо́бия (aporofóbija)fear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Spanish aporofobia
  • aporofobiafear, dislike, or hate of poor people
Cite this entry
APA

aporophobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aporophobia

MLA

“aporophobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aporophobia. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aporophobia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aporophobia.

Source: aporophobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.