Is homophobic a real word?

Question

It's not in my 1976 College Dictionary even though "homophile" is. What's more it seems to violate the convention for using Greek. It should mean "fear of things similar"
Online dictionaries all define it as "an extreme or irrational aversion to homosexuality or homosexuals." If we are to accept this definition, exactly when does my aversion to homosexuality become extreme?

dances_with - Yes, English is a living laguage, I guess my point is that the word seems to be applied too freely these days. I was wondering how most people on YA! would define it.

This has turned into a linguistics discussion, notice I asked the question in Culture & Groups>Les Bi Gay.

Answer 1

"homo" means "man" in Latin. It means "the same" in Greek ("hetero" means "the opposite" in Greek). "phobia" is Greek for "fear of". As the stem is Greek, the prefix has to be Greek therefor it is the Greek "homo" not the Latin "homo" we are looking at.

"Homophobia" is a badly constructed word, obviously coined by someone with a poor knowledge of classics or linguistics. Even so, the word is there as are many other badly coined words. We know what it means - a strong aversion to or fear of homosexuals. There is no other single word that means that so it will stay as obviously a word is needed. It might be badly coined but it is there now and it is too late to change it.

Answer 2

A word is meaningful because a society gives it meaning. That's really all it takes to make a "real" word. Since the commonly understood meaning for the word is someone who has some sort of fear involving gay people, I'd say it's a real word. If it's not already in a dictonary somewhere, I suspect it will be soon!

Answer 3

Yes, it is a real word and a real problem. It should be in Webster's Dictionary. It becomes extreme when you begin to dislike homosexuals so much that you would commit a hate crime.

Answer 4

homo means man
phobia is fear

therefore homophobia is a fear of man