Meanings
- uncountableThe fear of clowns.
The ironic twist is that he recently admitted to a possible onset of coulrophobia.
2006, Crimson de la Voire, Crimson’s Erotica: Volume One — A Collection of Stories About Submission and Pleasure, page 354 more examples
[…] to develop coulrophobia. On the seventh, clowns from around the world […] congregate at London's Holy Trinity Church for the annual Grimaldi Memorial Service.
1999 February, “February: This month's marvels, musts, and misses”, in Condé Nast Traveler, volume 34, page 103Clowns are no laughing matter to Sean "Puffy" Combs. The swaggering rap royal is widely reported to suffer from coulrophobia, an irrational fear of the red-nosed, versized-shoe-wearing, greasepainted circus buffoons.
2002 Jared Paul Stern, with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson, "Send out the Clowns", Page Six (NYT)⁵Unfortunately, the first time they attempted the study, the clown accidentally burst one of the balloons. The noise frightened the children and they associated that fear response with the clown. All 15 children are currently in therapy for coulrophobia!
2003, Andy Field, Graham Hole, How to Design and Report Experiments, page 257After you plug in your wish list and dating criteria, search results spit out matches; it’s like scanning a room of a thousand and pinpointing the ten who share your favorite author and chronic coulrophobia (fear of clowns).
2004, Phineas Mollod, Jason Tesauro, The Modern Lover: A Playbook for Suitors, Spouses & Ringless Carousers, page 39Synonyms: bozophobia, clownophobia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe fear of clowns.
Origin
- Ancient Greekκωλοβαθριστής“one who goes on stilts”
- Englishcoulrophobia
Coined in the late 1980s or 1990s, of unknown origin, appearing first, without further explanation, in lists of phobias circulating on the Internet. First use appears c. 1997 according to the OED. According to a widespread theory, the term is based on Ancient Greek κωλοβαθριστής (kōlobathristḗs, “one who goes on stilts”), allegedly chosen for lack of an obvious Ancient Greek equivalent of “clown”, + -phobia (“fear of”). This theory fails to explain the alteration of colo- to coulro-.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 小丑恐惧症
- 小丑恐惧症 (xiǎochǒu kǒngjùzhèng)fear of clowns
Dutch coulrofobie
- coulrofobiefear of clowns
Esperanto klaŭnofobio, koulrofobio
- klaŭnofobiofear of clowns
- koulrofobiofear of clowns
French coulrophobie
- coulrophobiefear of clowns
German Coulrophobie
- Coulrophobiefear of clowns
Greek κλοουνοφοβία
- κλοουνοφοβία (kloounofovía)fear of clowns
Hebrew פַּחַד מלֵיצָנֵים
- פַּחַד מלֵיצָנֵיםfear of clowns
Italian coulrofobia
- coulrofobiafear of clowns
Japanese ピエロ恐怖症, 道化恐怖症
- ピエロ恐怖症 (piero kyōfushō)fear of clowns
- 道化恐怖症 (dōkekyōfushō)fear of clowns
Korean 광대공포증
- 광대공포증 (gwangdaegongpojeung)fear of clowns
Vietnamese hội chứng sợ chú hề, ám ảnh sợ hãi chú hề
- hội chứng sợ chú hềfear of clowns
- ám ảnh sợ hãi chú hềfear of clowns
- sợ hãi chú hềfear of clowns
- sợ chú hềfear of clowns
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with coulrophobia
Cite this entry
coulrophobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coulrophobia
“coulrophobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coulrophobia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coulrophobia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coulrophobia.
Source: coulrophobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.