Tetraphobia

· from Greek

What is tetraphobia?

Tetraphobia is the avoidance of the number 4 in East Asia because its pronunciation resembles the word for death in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

In Mandarin 四 sì sounds like 死 sǐ; in Japanese し shi and in Korean 사 sa are near-identical to the Sino readings of 死. Buildings may skip fourth floors or label them F, hospitals avoid room 4, and Japanese often prefers the native reading よん yon. It is a striking example of homophony shaping everyday design.

Examples

四 sì vs 死 sǐ; Japanese 四 shi (avoided, yon used instead); Korean lifts showing F instead of 4; Cantonese 4 sei3 vs 死 sei2

Kungfucius says: Some Asian lifts go 3, 5. The fourth floor is not missing, it is just very superstitious.