structural:reformatting, information:classification, quality:correction, linguistic:paraphrasing
Terminology

The word phobia comes from the Greek: φόβος (phóbos), meaning "aversion", "fear" or "morbid fear". The regular system for naming specific phobias uses prefixes based on a Greek word for the object of the fear, plus the suffix -phobia. Benjamin Rush 's 1786 satirical text, 'On the different Species of Phobia', established the term's dictionary sense of specific morbid fears. However, many phobias are irregularly named with Latin prefixes, such as apiphobia instead of melissaphobia (fear of bees) or aviphobia instead of ornithophobia (fear of birds). Creating these terms is something of a word game. Such fears are psychological rather than physiological in origin, and few of these terms are found in medical literature. In ancient Greek mythology Phobos was the twin brother of Deimos (terror).

The word phobia may also refer to conditions other than true phobias. For example, the term hydrophobia is an old name for rabies, since an aversion to water is one of that disease's symptoms. A specific phobia to water is called aquaphobia instead. A hydrophobe is a chemical compound that repels water. Similarly, photophobia usually refers to a physical complaint (aversion to light due to inflamed eyes or excessively dilated pupils), rather than an irrational fear of light.