The fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. It is an ironic term because the word itself is very long. Another term for this phobia is sesquipedalophobia. This fear can cause anxiety, panic attacks, and avoidance behaviors, especially when encountering or needing to pronounce long words

. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is not officially recognized as a distinct diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association but is generally considered a type of social phobia or anxiety disorder because it involves fear related to social situations like reading aloud or speaking in public

. Symptoms of this phobia can include trembling, sweating, dizziness, dry mouth, headache, trouble breathing, and avoidance of reading or situations involving long words. It may stem from past traumatic experiences related to learning or pronouncing long words, genetic predisposition, environmental factors, or brain function changes

. In summary, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a social anxiety-related phobia characterized by an irrational fear of long words, leading to distress and avoidance behaviors