Tetraphobia

I was taking to a work colleague the other day, and he mentioned that Chinese people have an aversion to the number four. The word for the number four in Chinese is very similar in sounding to the word for death, and as a result people don't like the number four. After hearing this I decided to do a little Googling of my own to substantiate this claim, and what I discovered, was that there is actually a named phobia for people with an aversion or fear of the number four. It is called Tetraphobia. It is most commonly a superstition in South East Asian countries for the very reason my colleague mentioned, because the number four sounds similar to death.

I also discovered that in Chinese cultures other numbers are considered positive or negative based on how they sound. The numbers two, three, five, six, seven, eight and nine are considered positive due to their links with other Chinese positive sounding words. In addition to the number four, the numbers five six and seven can are often considered unlucky numbers due to their similar sounds to negative words in the Chinese language. You will notice that some numbers appear on both positive and negative lists, which I assume is why most Chinese people believe the aversion to certain numbers to be a simple superstition. However I have noticed that even people who believe certain things to be superstitious still don't open their umbrella inside or walk under a ladder. So I guess regardless of how silly some people may consider particular superstitions, there are always others that believe and some that deride in public but believe in secret.

If you wish to read more about why each number is considered lucky or unlucky, check out the Wikipedia article.