Meanings
- uncountableThe fear of buttons (clothing fasteners).
Mrs Rose said that from time to time psychiatrists had asked her whether their clients suffering from koumpounophobia, or fear of buttons, could visit the shop in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia.
2011 December 2, Josh Loeb, “Button Maker Maureen Rose plans to celebrate Charles Dickens's bicentenary with unique design”, in West End Extra2 more examples
Years ago, I worked with the parents of a three-year-old with koumpounophobia, a fear of buttons. She violently refused to wear anything with buttons and screamed if her mom approached with buttons on her shirt.
2012, Diana R. Boggia, Parenting with a Purpose: Inspiring, Positive Alternatives to Reach and Teach Your Child How to Behave, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 79Meet mother-of-one Louisa Francis, whose bizarre phobia means she is terrified of buttons. The 30-year-old panics if faced with one, and is forced to flee if they are placed too near to her. To most people they are harmless but for Louisa they are a source of fear - because she has koumpounophobia.
2012, Leon Watson, "Unusual phobia of mother, 30, who is paralysed by fear when she sees… BUTTONS, Daily Mail, 8 March 2012
Origin
- Greekκουμπί
- Englishkoumpounophobia
Modern Greek κουμπί (koumpí) + -phobia. The anomalous first element may be from a related form such as κουμπώνω (koumpóno), a verb.
More words from Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
koumpounophobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koumpounophobia
“koumpounophobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koumpounophobia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “koumpounophobia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koumpounophobia.
Source: koumpounophobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.