Tetraphobia

Tetraphobia is an irrational fear of the number "4". It is a phobia most common in East Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea. The Chinese and Japanese pronunciations for "4" is "si" or "shi" (Korean pronunciation being "sa"), which is nearly identical to the word for death (the only difference is the tone). This homophony carries into the Sino-Korean and Sino-Japanese pronunciations of the number and the pronunciations of the same hanja/kanji in Korean and Japanese (see Korean numerals and Japanese numerals).

Special care may be taken to avoid occurrences or reminders of the number 4 during festive holidays, or when a family member is sick, especially in Chinese culture. Similarly, "14", "24", etc. are also to be avoided due to the presence of the digit "4" in these numbers. In these countries, these floor numbers are often skipped in buildings, ranging from hotels to offices to apartments. Table number "4", "14", "24", etc. are also often left out in wedding dinners or other social gatherings in these countries. In many residential complexes, building block "4", "14", "24" etc. are usually replaced with block "3A", "13A", "23A", etc. Note that while many Western cultures consider "13" to be unlucky, it is a lucky number for the Chinese and Japanese due to the pronunciation of "3" as "san" which is similar to that of "live" or "survive".

The Chinese also show this by having their designations for military aircraft start with the number 5, as in the fighter plane "Shenyang J-5". Also, their first manned space flight had the number "Shenzhou 5", although there really were four unmanned test launches before it; just as America's first manned Gemini flight was "Gemini III" with two unmanned test launches before it.

In cities where East Asian and Western cultures blend, such as in Hong Kong and Singapore, it is possible in some buildings that both "13" and "14" are skipped as floor numbers along with all the other "4"s.

In Korea, tetraphobia is less extreme, but the floor number "4" is almost always skipped in hospitals and similar public buildings. In other buildings, the fourth floor is often labeled "F" instead of "4" in elevators. Apartment numbers containing multiple occurrences of the number "4" (such as "404") are likely to be avoided to an extent that the value of the property is adversely affected.

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