rectophobia

R1E1C3T1O1P3H4O1B3I1A1

noun

The fear of rectal disease.

Scrabble 20
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Meanings

nounrectophobia (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableThe fear of rectal disease.

    Careful investigation will, I am sure, account for the nervous rectum of Goodell, the rectophobia of Kelsey, and the irritable rectum of Matthews.

    1893, Chas. C. Allison, “Reflex Pain”, in The Denver Medical Times, volume 12, number 5, page 308
    2 more examples

    Some writers have used the term rectophobia to describe a condition of morbid foreboding, claimed to be peculiar to patients afflicted with rectal disease.

    1914, A. Bennett Cooke, A treatise on diseases of the rectum and anus

    Cryptitis is the daddy of rectal neurasthenia, producing what we might term rectophobia, with the mental exhaustion, foreboding, fear and introspection which disturbed reflexes give to the victims of anal diseases.

    1932, International Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Surgical Journal

Origin

From recto- + -phobia.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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