How to Pronounce the Fear of Long Words

Last Updated: October 21, 2022

The fear of long words is ironically called hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. It may seem daunting at first, but if you take your time and break the word up into pieces, it is actually quite easy to pronounce, some might think this phobia is made up but quite frankly it is the official fear of long words.

Steps

1
Know the word. It is hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.^{[1]
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2
Break the word into up into its root words. Hippopoto-monstro-sesuiquipedalio-phobia. Hippopoto is the misspelled form of Hippopotamus, Monstro comes from the Latin Monstrum, meaning Monster, Sesquipedalio comes from Sesquipedalian, a very long word, and lastly Phobia, an extreme or irrational fear of something.^{[2]
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3
Break the word up into easy to pronounce pieces. Hippo-poto-monstro-sesqui-pedalio-phobia.
4
Start with Hippo. It is pronounced Hi-poh.^{[3]
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5
Follow with Poto. Pronounce it as Po-toh.
6
Next comes Monstro. Say Mon-stroh.
7
Then there is Sesqui. Pronounce Ses-kwee.
8
Say Pedalio. This is pronounced as Peh-dah-leejoh.
9
Finish with Phobia. Say it like Foh-beejah.
10
Practice saying each piece.
11
Pronounce the whole word. Hi-poh-po-toh-mon-stroh-ses-kwee-peh-dah-leejoh-foh-beeja.^{[4]
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12
Practice the pronunciation until you can say the word without hesitations.^{[5]
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Community Q&A

Question

Why do people get scared of long words?

Community Answer

People have all different kinds of phobias (fears), some more unusual than others. There's really no explaining why it happens, people are just born that way.
Question

How do I stop being scared of long words?

Community Answer

You could start with smaller words and slowly get into bigger words.
Question

Why are people scared of long words?

Community Answer

It depends for different people, because some may just not know the words while others may be legitimately intimidated by the words for several different reasons.