coulrophobia

/ˌkulrəˈfoʊbiə/

If the thought of going to the circus makes you tremble in terror, you may suffer from coulrophobia, an intense, irrational fear of clowns.

We've got words to describe pathological fears of just about everything — and clowns are no exception. Coulrophobia is a new word, coined in the late 20th century. Etymologists speculate that coulro- may derive from the Greek kōlobatheron, "stilt," and -phobia comes from phobos, or "fear." So if the sight of those oversized shoes and bizarrely painted faces make you truly terrified, it may be a case of coulrophobia.

Definitions of coulrophobia

1. noun

   a morbid fear of clowns