Ailurophobic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Experiencing an irrational and excessive fear of cats leads to intense anxiety and avoidance behaviors towards felines
2. Characterized by a profound and persistent fear of cats, which causes considerable emotional distress and discomfort
3. Having an intense fear that causes one to avoid cats and feel uneasy around them

Etymology: "Ailurophobic" is built from two Ancient Greek elements: "ailouros," meaning cat, and "phobos," meaning fear. The first part gives the name of the animal in a form that sounds dignified, since "ailouros" was a standard Greek word for the animal, and it is combined with the suffix "-phobic," which describes a strong, irrational dread of something. Put together, the adjective names a fear of cats in the same way that words like "claustrophobic" name a fear of enclosed spaces. The sense of the word is tied to the scientific habit of building precise names for conditions out of classical parts. Because the elements are ancient but the combined word is modern, the term does not reflect any ancient Greek attitude toward cats or fear. Its value is simply that it names a specific phobia in a single adjective, so that a person can be described as ailurophobic rather than needing a longer phrase.

Synonyms: cat-hating, fearful of cats, cat-averse, cat-fearing, feline-fearing

Antonyms: ailurophilic, cat-loving