Standard Lemma guide

wraith

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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  • rāth
  • /ɹeɪθ/
  • rhymes with -eɪθ
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a mental representation of some haunting experience

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he looked like he had seen a ghost
  • it aroused specters from his past

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ghost, shade, spook, specter, spectre

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, shadow

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 in a translation of the Aeneid. The word has no certain etymology; it may be a transferred use of Middle Scots wraith, wrath (nominally "anger, rage", adjectivally "angry, wrathful"), thus connecting it to writhe and making it a doublet of wrath and wroth. The old Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (“guardian”).

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: привидение (prividenie) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鬼魂 (guǐhún) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幽靈 /幽灵 (yōulíng) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幽魂 (yōuhún) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Czech: přízrak — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Czech: zjevení — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Dutch: spook — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Dutch: geestverschijning — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Faroese: dreygur — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Faroese: hamur — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Finnish: henki — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Finnish: haamu — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • French: fantôme — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • French: spectre — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • German: Gespenst — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Hungarian: lidérc — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Irish: taibhse — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Italian: spettro — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Japanese: 幽霊 (yūrei) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Kazakh: елес (eles) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Korean: 유령 (yuryeong) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Macedonian: при́зрак (prízrak) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Mazanderani: ورول (vorul) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Occitan: esglasi — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Occitan: trèva — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Polish: widmo — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Polish: zjawa — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Portuguese: espectro — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Portuguese: aparição — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Portuguese: fantasma — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Russian: при́зрак (prízrak) — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Scottish Gaelic: sgàile — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Scottish Gaelic: tannasg — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Scottish Gaelic: taibhse — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: утвара — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: utvara — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: приказа — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: prikaza — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: сабласт — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Serbo-Croatian: sablast — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Spanish: fantasma — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Spanish: espectro — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
  • Swedish: vålnad — A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death