anthropophobia

English

Alternative forms

• anthrophobia

Etymology

anthropo- +‎ -phobia. Both elements are borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man, human”) + φόβος (phóbos, “fear”) respectively.

Noun

anthropophobia (uncountable)

1. A profound fear of human beings, or of human society.
   • 1880, Edward Bliss Foote, Plain Home Talk about the Human System, 4th edition, page 438:

     The affection is unlike anthropophobia, because this is characterized by dislike of men, and decided aversion to sexual intercourse.

   • 1925, Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith:

     It was when anthropophobia set in, when he was made uneasy by people who walked too close to him, that, sagely viewing his list and seeing how many phobias were now checked, he permitted himself to rest.

   • 2004, Toshio Kawai, “Postmodern consciousness in the novels of Haruki Murakami,”, in The Cultural Complex: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives on Psyche and Society‎^[1], →ISBN, page 97:

     He was suffering from anthropophobia, a typical Japanese symptom which shows alienation, and liberation, from the embracing community.

Synonyms

• social anxiety
• social phobia

Derived terms

• anthropophobe
• anthropophobic
• anthropophobiac

Translations

fear of human beings

• Catalan: antropofòbia f
• French: anthropophobie (fr) f
• German: Anthropophobie (de) f, Menschenscheu f
• Japanese: 対人恐怖症 (ja) (たいじんきょうふしょう, taijin kyōfushō)
• Korean: 대인공포증 (daein'gongpojeung)
• Polish: antropofobia (pl) f
• Portuguese: antropofobia (pt) f
• Swedish: antropofobi c
• Tagalog: taosikway

See also

• androphobia
• gynephobia
• misanthropy