"ghost word" meaning in English

See ghost word in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: ghost words [plural]
Etymology: Coined by Walter William Skeat in 1886; ghost + word. Etymology templates: {{coin|en|Walter William Skeat|in=1886|nobycat=1}} Coined by Walter William Skeat in 1886, {{com|en|ghost|word}} ghost + word Head templates: {{en-noun}} ghost word (plural ghost words)
  1. (linguistics) 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. Categories (topical): Linguistics Synonyms: ghostword Related terms: nihilartikel, sniglet, 幽霊文字 (yuurei moji) (alt: ゆうれいもじ), a similar phenomenon featuring Japanese kanji Translations (fictitious or erroneous word): ուրվական բառ (urvakan baṙ) (Armenian), mot fantasma [masculine] (Catalan), spookwoord [neuter] (Dutch), mot fantôme [masculine] (French), Ghostword [neuter] (German), Geisterwort [neuter] (German), 幽霊語 (yūreigo) (Japanese), несуществу́ющее сло́во (nesuščestvújuščeje slóvo) [neuter] (Russian), слово-призрак (slovo-prizrak) [neuter] (Russian), fantasma lexicográfico (Spanish), palabra fantasma (Spanish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for ghost word meaning in English (4.5kB)

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    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Armenian terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "name": "Linguistics",
          "orig": "en:Linguistics",
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          "ref": "2006, Folia orientalia - Volumes 42-43, page 467",
          "text": "Here such cases as ghost words & misglosses, secondary semantics, different etymologies for one etymon or one etymology for different etyma, and finally semantic overpermissiveness are discussed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At 'Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 65",
          "text": "Anglo-Indian English was recognised in colonial days as having unique features, but it was never called Hobson-Jobson at that time. Therefore, this is really a ghost word, or, rather, a ghost meaning.",
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        "(linguistics) 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."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "nihilartikel"
        },
        {
          "word": "sniglet"
        },
        {
          "alt": "ゆうれいもじ",
          "roman": "yuurei moji",
          "word": "幽霊文字"
        },
        {
          "word": "a similar phenomenon featuring Japanese kanji"
        }
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      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "ghostword"
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      ],
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "urvakan baṙ",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "word": "ուրվական բառ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mot fantasma"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "spookwoord"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mot fantôme"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Ghostword"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Geisterwort"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
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          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "word": "幽霊語"
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          "code": "ru",
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          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "несуществу́ющее сло́во"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "slovo-prizrak",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "слово-призрак"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "word": "fantasma lexicográfico"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
          "word": "palabra fantasma"
        }
      ]
    }
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  "word": "ghost word"
}
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      "word": "nihilartikel"
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      "word": "sniglet"
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      "word": "幽霊文字"
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          "type": "quotation"
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        "(linguistics) 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."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "ghostword"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "urvakan baṙ",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "word": "ուրվական բառ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mot fantasma"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "spookwoord"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mot fantôme"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Ghostword"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Geisterwort"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "yūreigo",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "word": "幽霊語"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nesuščestvújuščeje slóvo",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "несуществу́ющее сло́во"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "slovo-prizrak",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "слово-призрак"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "word": "fantasma lexicográfico"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "fictitious or erroneous word",
      "word": "palabra fantasma"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ghost word"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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