The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (of Greek origin: φόβος/φοβία ) occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g.hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g. acidophobia), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e.g. photophobia). In common usage they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject. The suffix is antonymic to -phil-.

For more information on the psychiatric side, including how psychiatry groups phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, or simple phobia, see phobia. The following lists include words ending in -phobia, and include fears that have acquired names.

Click here to see : The Phobia List

Common Superstitions

• Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day
• A rabbit's foot brings good luck
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away
• To find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck
• If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck
• If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck
• To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck
• To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck
• To find a horseshoe brings good luck
• Step on a crack, break your mother's back
• You can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle
• Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires
• Our fate is written in the stars
• At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold
• Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck
• Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck
• If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for
• To have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish, then take hold of each end of the bone and pull it until it separates. The person with the longer end gets his or her wish
• An itchy palm means money will come your way
• A beginner will always have good luck: beginner's luck
• A cat has nine lives
• Eating fish makes you smart
• Toads cause warts
• A cricket in the house brings good luck
• Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true
• It is bad luck to sing at the table
• It is bad luck to sleep on a table
• After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty
• A lock of hair from a baby's first haircut should be kept for good luck
• A bird that comes in your window brings bad luck
• To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck
• Goldfish in the pond bring good luck
• Goldfish in the house bring bad luck
• For good luck, wear new clothes on Easter
• An acorn at the window can keep lightning out of the house
• If the bottom of your feet itch, you will make a trip
• When a dog howls, death is near
• It is bad luck to chase someone with a broom
• A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown
• To find a penny heads up, brings good luck
• To cure a sty, rub it with a gold wedding band
• Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve
• A drowned woman floats face up, a drowned man floats face down
• A person cannot drown before going under three times
• To drop a fork means a woman will visit
• To drop a knife means a man will visit
• To drop a spoon means a child will visit
• To drop a dishcloth means bad luck is coming
• If you shiver, someone is casting a shadow on your grave
• To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
• The wedding veil protects the bride from the evil eye
• Washing a car will bring rain
• You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck
• Evil spirits cannot harm you when you are standing in a circle
• A cat will try to take the breath from a baby
• Warm hands, cold heart
• Cold hands, warm heart
• It is unlucky to rock an empty rocking chair
• To kill an albatross is to cause bad luck to the ship and all upon it
• Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck
• Smell dandelions, wet the bed
• To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck
• A forked branch, held with a fork in each hand, will dip and point when it passes over water

Joke of the week

What do you call a gorilla with a banana in each ear? Anything you like ... he can't hear you!

OTHER WAYS OF TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE

1. IS TO + INFINITIVE