Coulrophobia is a fear of clowns. The term is of recent
origin, probably dating from the 1980s,and according to one analyst, "has been coined more on the Internet than in printed form because it does not appear in any previously published, psychiatric, unabridged, or abridged dictionary." However, the author later notes, "regardless of its less-than-verifiable etymology, coulrophobia exists in several lists".The condition is a specific phobia (DSM-IV Code 300.29).
The prefix "coulro-" may be derived from the Ancient Greek word κωλοβαθριστής meaning "stilt-walker",[nb 1] although the concept of a clown as a figure of fun was unknown in classical Greek culture.
