coulrophobia

Etymology
Coined in the late 1980s or 1990s, of en origin, appearing first, without further explanation, in lists of phobias circulating on the Internet. First use appears c. 1997 according to the OED. According to a widespread theory the term is supposedly based on (from, from  + , allegedly chosen for lack of an obvious Ancient Greek equivalent of "clown", or with some supposed sense of "stilt-walker" (because earlier clowns used to walk on stilts in their performances),  suffix. If true, the literal meaning of coulrophobia would be either "fear of limbs" or "fear of stilt-walkers". This theory fails to explain the substitution of ou for o and of lro for lo.

Noun

 * 1) The fear of clowns.
 * 2) * 2002 Jared Paul Stern, with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson, "Send out the Clowns", Page Six (NYT)
 * Clowns are no laughing matter to Sean "Puffy" Combs. The swaggering rap royal is widely reported to suffer from coulrophobia, an irrational fear of the red-nosed, versized-shoe-wearing, greasepainted circus buffoons.
 * 1) * 2002 Jared Paul Stern, with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson, "Send out the Clowns", Page Six (NYT)
 * Clowns are no laughing matter to Sean "Puffy" Combs. The swaggering rap royal is widely reported to suffer from coulrophobia, an irrational fear of the red-nosed, versized-shoe-wearing, greasepainted circus buffoons.

Usage notes

 * The term is artificial, coined for inclusion in online "lists of phobias". In the opinion of Online Etymology Dictionary, it "looks suspiciously like the sort of thing idle pseudo-intellectuals invent on the Internet and which every smarty-pants takes up thereafter". The  published the term as an entry in 2020.

Translations

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 小丑恐惧症
 * Esperanto: klaŭnofobio, koulrofobio
 * French:
 * German: Coulrophobie
 * Greek: κλοουνοφοβία
 * Hebrew: פַּחַד מלֵיצָנֵים
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: ピエロ恐怖症, 道化恐怖症
 * Korean: 광대공포증
 * Vietnamese: hội chứng sợ chú hề, ám ảnh sợ hãi chú hề, sợ hãi chú hề, sợ chú hề