The recognizable parts—like “scope”—make long words seem less threatening. Since you may need more convincing, explore some of the possibilities of this next intriguing word part. The combining form “phobe” is used after prefixes to tell us that someone is afraid of something. Someone who has an abnormal fear of germs, for example, is a germophobe, and someone who is afraid of flying is an aerophobe. Someone who won’t vacation at the beach is an aquaphobe, a person who is afraid of the water.