koumpounophobia

English

Etymology

Modern Greek κουμπί (koumpí) +‎ -phobia.

Noun

koumpounophobia (uncountable)

1. The fear of buttons (clothing fasteners).
   • 2011 December 2, Josh Loeb, “Button Maker Maureen Rose plans to celebrate Charles Dickens's bicentenary with unique design”, in West End Extra:

     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.

   • 2012, Diana R. Boggia, Parenting with a Purpose: Inspiring, Positive Alternatives to Reach and Teach Your Child How to Behave, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 79:

     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, Leon Watson, "Unusual phobia of mother, 30, who is paralysed by fear when she sees… BUTTONS, Daily Mail, 8 March 2012:

     Meet 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.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:koumpounophobia.