A Word A Day — xenophobia
Good afternoon Netizens,,,
- xenophobia
-
- \zen-uh-FOH-bee-uh\
- DEFINITION
noun
- EXAMPLES
"A Labour MP has been accused of xenophobia after complaining about the Polish staff who served him a disappointing bacon sandwich." — From an article in The Telegraph (London), April 25, 2012
"A few counterexamples raise doubts: the downturn in immigration during World War I due to the interruption of transatlantic ship traffic and the mobilization of many young Europeans for the war did not lead to a decline in stereotypes and prejudice; in fact, the wartime period and the few years afterward produced some of the worst xenophobia the United States has ever seen." — From Richard Alba's 2012 book Blurring the Color Line
- DID YOU KNOW?
If you look back to the ancient Greek terms that underlie the word "xenophobia," you'll discover that xenophobic individuals are literally "stranger fearing." "Xenophobia," that elegant-sounding name for an aversion to persons unfamiliar, ultimately derives from two Greek terms: "xenos," which can be translated as either "stranger" or "guest," and "phobos," which means either "fear" or "flight." "Phobos" is the ultimate source of all English "-phobia" terms, but many of those were actually coined in English or New Latin using the combining form "-phobia" (which traces back to "phobos"). "Xenophobia" itself came to us by way of New Latin and first appeared in print in English in 1903.
From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.
Dave