Fygophobia

Cover image for the Fygophobia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Fygophobia

n.
the fear that your connections with people will keep dwindling as you get older; that one by one, you’ll all go flying off the merry-go-round in wildly different directions, sailing through various classes and jobs and interests, ultimately landing in far-flung neighborhoods where you’ll hunker down with your families plus a handful of confidants you see a few times a year, perpetually reassuring each other, “We should keep in touch.”

Greek φύγω (fýgo), I leave + -φοβία (-phobía), fear. Compare the Greek φυγόκεντρος (fygókentros), centrifuge. Pronounced “fahy-goh-foh-bee-uh.”

Ringlorn

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Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Dorgone

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Foilsick

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Anthrodynia

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Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape