tokophobia

English

Alternative forms

• tocophobia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τόκος (tókos, “birth”) +‎ -φοβία (-phobía, “fear”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtəʊkəˈfəʊbi.ə/

Noun

tokophobia (uncountable)

1. A morbid fear of childbirth or pregnancy.
   • 2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 200:

     As soon as Dr Guy Glass cured Rebecca of her tokophobia, the place would be full of children.

   • 2018 September 23, Eva Wiseman, “Mumsnet forums are a guilty pleasure, but there are truths, too”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     A multitude of stories are required, not just to help those telling them to work out their own narratives, or to help those looking for information, but to challenge tokophobia by enriching and complicating our cultural understanding of childbirth.

Translations

Translations

• French: tocophobie (fr) f
• German: Schwangerschaftsphobie f, Tokophobie f
• Turkish: tokofobi (tr)

See also

• parturiphobia