Scared of 'Friday the 13th'? You may have 'paraskevidekatriaphobia'

You might have come across buildings that skip the 13th floor to avoid the so-called unlucky number. Did you know that there's fear among people when the date 13 falls on a Friday? That's called 'paraskevidekatriaphobia'.

If you just moved your eyes towards the calendar to check what's today - it's Friday the 13th. There are a lot of superstitions and theories about why and how such an instance is considered inauspicious.

According to the gospels, the 13th person at the table was Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, leading to the Christian Lord's crucifixion on Good Friday. Also, Friday is a day when Adam and Eve entered the spell of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

There have been several movies and drama series over this irrational fear, along people buzzing the internet with its visuals on this date.

The fear of the count '13' is termed 'triskaidekaphobia' while the phobia of 'Friday the 13th' is called 'paraskevidekatriaphobia'. The term was used as early as 1910 by Isador Coriat in Abnormal Psychology.

The word Paraskevidekatriaphobia originates from Greece, where Paraskevi refers to Friday, dekatreís means thirteen and phóbos means fear. An alternative name for 'Friday the 13th' vibes is 'friggatriskaidekaphobia'.