melissophobia

noun

me·​lis·​so·​pho·​bia mə-ˌli-sō-ˈfō-bē-ə 

: intense fear or dislike of bees : apiphobia

I understand my son's fear. I suffer from melissophobia myself. That's the scientific term for a fear of bees …

—Tom Henderson

melissophobe

mə-ˈli-sō-ˌfōb 

noun

or melissophobic

mə-ˌli-sō-ˈfō-bik 

plural melissophobes or melissophobics

Many root and leafy vegetables (carrots, beets, lettuce, cabbage, etc.) are good choices for melissophobes because gardeners never let these vegetables flower either: we harvest them before they have time to do so!

—Larry Hodgson

melissophobic adjective

… back then I mostly just learned to run away from bees, and as a melissophobic child, stinging insects deterred me from really getting into the agricultural arts.

—Laura Furster

Word History

Etymology

Greek mélissa, mélitta "bee" (perhaps going back to *melit-i̯a, derivative of melit-, méli "honey") + -phobia — more at mellifluous

Note: Greek mélissa has alternatively been treated as haplology from *melí-likh-i̯a "honey-licking," parallel to Sanskrit madhu-lih- "bee," literally, "honey licker."

First Known Use

1875, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for melissophobia

• claustrophobia
• homophobia
• hydrophobia
• photophobia
• xenophobia
• agoraphobia
• phobia
• rhizobia