Meanings
- uncountableAn irrational fear of adolescent people.
Indeed, Byron (2009) suggests that ephebiphobia (fear of youth) is a historically nurtured and culturally damaging phenomenon that is worse today than ever.
2011, Gosia M. Brykczynska, Joan Simons, editors, Ethical and Philosophical Aspects of Nursing Children and Young People, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 1012 more examples
Such quotes illustrate what I believe has become a historically nurtured and culturally damaging phenomenon: ephebiphobia—the fear of youth. But today this problem is worse than ever.
2009 March 17, Tanya Byron, “‘We see children as pestilent’”, in The Guardian, →ISSNHowever, Hollywood studios did not suddenly blank on hedonistic teen roles in the early 1950s: their process of introducing the postwar teenager was careful if not apprehensive, as they gradually exaggerated the ephebiphobia—fear of teenagers—that was seeping into popular culture and politics.
2012, Barry Keith Grant, editor, Film Genre Reader IV, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 585
Origin
- Ancient Greekἔφηβος“youth”
- Englishephebiphobia
From Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “youth”) + -phobia. The coinage of this term is attributed to a 1994 article by Kirk Astroth published in Phi Delta Kappan.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ephebiphobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ephebiphobia
“ephebiphobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ephebiphobia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ephebiphobia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ephebiphobia.
Source: ephebiphobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.