Added 7 October 2026
ghost
/ɡəʊst/ noun
In Latin: spectrum, larva, phasma Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ghost at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
A mental representation of some haunting experience.
he looked like he had seen a ghost
- A writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else.
- The visible disembodied soul of a dead person.
verb
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst, gǣst (“breath, spirit, soul, ghost”) (compare modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). The h in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton’s Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the “Holy Ghoost”. It was likely influenced by Middle Dutch gheest, a common variant of geest. Both Caxton and his assistant Wynkyn de Worde had connections to the Low Countries. Doublet of geist. The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. The verb gained prominence in the 2010s.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)