For whom is the number 4 an unlucky sign and scary?

Tetraphobia, which is the fear of the number four (4), is seen especially in Far East countries, while it is frequently encountered in Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea. The basis of Tetraphobia, which is a national phobia, is the reading of Chinese characters (kanji), while the reading of the number 4 in Korean (Chinese origin) and the word "death" in Chinese characters. Tetraphobia, which is especially seen in East Asian countries, is also seen in Southeast Asian countries and is mostly seen in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore.

Tetra means "four" in Ancient Greek, Phobos means "fear" and entered English as Tetraphobia. Because of the Chinese characters Kanji (called kanji in Japanese, it was passed from Chinese to Japan, we can say that it is actually a kind of alphabet), the reading of the number 4 means "death, land" and this does not change in Far Eastern languages. For this reason, the situation that causes superstition or fear affects millions of people.

Tetraphobia is a fear of the number 4. It is a superstition found most often in East Asian areas, for example China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

So much so that it is almost impossible to buy four items from street vendors in Korea, while phobia is also encountered in public buildings. Coming to the 50th floor after the 39th floor, 5 coming after 3 in the elevator (some buildings have "F" meaning Four instead of four), staying away from 4 when a family member is sick, -military- ships not having the number 4, There are many examples such as the absence of tables containing the number 4 in weddings.

Besides, it is not used in numbers such as 14, 24, and 54 (sometimes it is seen that 13a is used instead of 14, and 23a is used instead of 24), while all floors between 40 and 49 are skipped in most buildings. In some buildings, while the rent of the 4th floor is very cheap, this belief has also manifested itself in technology. While some companies do not use the number 4 due to their belief and respect, with the developing technology, the number 4 has been used more frequently in recent years, even side by side (see Samsung).

Finally, avoidance behavior is common in Japan against the number 4 along with the number 49. Since the number 9 is read as "ku" and the number 4 as "shi" (let's say it is read with this expression in some contexts), it evokes the expression "shi nu ku rushimu", that is, "to suffer until death". While the number 49 is not used especially in Japanese hospitals, it is also equated with the widely known fear of 13.