Meanings
- uncountableThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them; both.
Piggy banks are helpful for persons with "peniaphobia," an abnormal fear of poverty.
1994, Charlotte Foltz Jones, Mistakes That Worked, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 382 more examples
Maybe you have peniaphobia, but God wants you live among and minister to the poor […]
1998, Brian Shipman, WWJD: Daily Time with Jesus, B & H Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 358Our strategy is not driven by brobdingnagian principles: it is quite simply to excel in whatever we do and my personal optimism for the future stems from the knowledge that our entrepreneurial Agencies are driven to achieve. Perhaps this is due to peniaphobia but more likely it stems from a passion to establish the mission™ as the most respected and regarded Agency group in the UK.
2013, The Mission Marketing Group PLC, Interim Report 2013: For the Six Months Ended 30 June 2013, page 6Synonyms: aporophobia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them; both.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπενία“poverty”
- Englishpeniaphobia
From Ancient Greek πενία (penía, “poverty”) + -phobia. Related to Latin penuria (“poverty”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French péniaphobie
- péniaphobiefear of poverty and/or poor people
German Peniaphobie
- Peniaphobiefear of poverty and/or poor people
Polish peniafobia
- peniafobiafear of poverty and/or poor people
Cite this entry
peniaphobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peniaphobia
“peniaphobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peniaphobia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “peniaphobia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peniaphobia.
Source: peniaphobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.