English

peniaphobia

Peniaphobia comes from Ancient Greek πενία ‘poverty’, from πένης ‘poor’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- ‘to weave, spin’.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πένομαι
² Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πένης
³ Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πενία
⁴ Wiktionary, English peniaphobia
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Charlotte Foltz Jones, Mistakes That Worked: “Piggy banks are helpful for persons with "peniaphobia," an…”.

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-1Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πένομαι‘to weave, spin’reconstructed
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπένομαι2Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πένης‘to toil, labor, exert oneself’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπένης3Wiktionary, Ancient Greek πενία‘poor’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπενία4Wiktionary, English peniaphobiapenía‘poverty’
Englishearliest quotation 1994peniaphobia4Wiktionary, English peniaphobia. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Charlotte Foltz Jones, Mistakes That Worked: “Piggy banks are helpful for persons with "peniaphobia," an…”

Formed from phobia

Proto-Indo-European *bʰegʷ- ‘to run, flee’

Proto-Indo-European *bʰógʷos

Proto-Hellenic *pʰógʷos

Ancient Greek φόβος ‘fear’

noun The fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them; both.

Sources: Wiktionary, “peniaphobia”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek πένομαι, Ancient Greek πένης, Ancient Greek πενία. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.