What is triskaidekaphobia?

A few days ago I came across this word and was fascinated by its length and origin. It was interesting to note that though the word does seem long enough to be used in day-to-day texts, it still remains relevant to most of us even today.

The word, Triskaidekaphobia, denotes the fear of the number 13. (Didn’t we tremble when our exams were on the 13th of the month?). The word has its roots in Greek, and is made up of tris(3), kai(and), deka(10) and phobia(fear).

As legends go, it all started with The Last Supper, when Judas was the last to step in and betrayed Jesus by kissing. Since then, the number is being associated with ill-luck and misfortune. Strangely enough what originated in the Biblical era has its presence felt even today.

Such instances are plenty. Like, in Tarot, the death card is the 13th one, hotels often do not have room no.13, and architects tactfully avoid constructing 13th floor of hotels or other multi-storeys. While most of these are prevalent in the US, Europe and other parts of the globe, the Chinese consider #13 as lucky. Psychologists say such phobias arise from strong religious beliefs and percolate down to the common masses. There are other phobias associated with numbers. For example, tetraphobia, arithmophobia etc.

Do you feel being away (or towards) a particular number brings good (or bad) luck to you? Do scribble a comment.