Phrase guide

ghost word

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A fictitious or erroneous word, originally meaningless (not used in practice), that has been published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work or otherwise listed as genuine, generally as the result of misinterpretation, misreading, or typographical error.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: phantom word

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a word form that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: form, word form, signifier, descriptor

History

Etymology

Coined by Walter William Skeat in 1886; from ghost + word.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ուրվական բառ (urvakan baṙ) — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Catalan: mot fantasma — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Dutch: spookwoord — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • French: mot fantôme — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • German: Ghostword — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • German: Geisterwort — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Hindi: भूत शब्द (bhūt śabd) — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Hungarian: szellemszó — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Japanese: 幽霊語 (yūreigo) — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Russian: несуществу́ющее сло́во (nesuščestvújuščeje slóvo) — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Russian: слово-призрак (slovo-prizrak) — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Spanish: fantasma lexicográfico — a fictitious or erroneous word
  • Spanish: palabra fantasma — a fictitious or erroneous word