etymology - What is the story behind the word "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia"?


Was someone just trying to be funny by being ironic?



Answer



Sesquipedalian means having many syllables, and you'll probably know what phobia means. Thus, "sesquipedaliophobia" is an irrational fear of words with many syllables. The prefixes "hippopoto-" and "monstro-", as you might guess, are not there to add anything in terms of meaning, in fact they are rather nonsensical. Their only purpose is to make the word longer, in a witty and cruel, sarcastic twist.


Wiktionary says:



Etymology


From hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, an extension of sesquipedalian with monstrum "monster" and a truncated, misspelled form of hippopotamus, intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared; combined with phobia.



So I guess the answer to your question is yes, you can say that someone was trying to be funny.


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