Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Wondrous Words Wednesday



Ichthyophobia: Abnormal Fear of Fish
Pronounced as Ick + Th (from Thick) + Ee + O + Phobia. Complicated, huh?
Derived from Greek Ikhthus meaning Fish and our very favourite Greek Phobia meaning Fear. icon smile Ichthyophobia
Numerous words are built on the root Ikhthus:
  • IchthyoidFish or fish like animal (same word used both as a noun and as an adjective)
  • IchthyologyBranch of Zoology that deals with the scientific study of Fish
  • Similarly there is “Ichthyologist” – you would obviously understand that now. icon smile Ichthyophobia
BTW, the suffix -ology comes from the Greek root Logos which means knowledge.
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