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.”

Wenbane

a person standing on a ledge looking at a city skyline

Hobsmacked

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Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Burn Upon Reentry

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Covalent Bond

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Pâro

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Nullness

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Xeno

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Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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Latigo

aerial view of a city at night

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Antiophobia

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Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Hailbound

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Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Fool’s Guilt

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Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top