ghost
/ɡoʊst/noun, adjective, verb
ghost is spelled G-H-O-S-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ghost means “A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ghost is ghosts.
How many letters and syllables are in ghost?
| Letters | 5: G-H-O-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,479th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ghost?
Ghost appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ghost?
- UK /ɡəʊst/
- US /ɡoʊst/
- Australia /ɡɐʉst/
Ghost has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ghost.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Qwertygiy-ghost.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-ghost.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ghost?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ghost from its last stressed vowel (/oʊst/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: gosht.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ghost
- ghosts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ghoast
- gost
- ghosting participle, present
- ghosted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ghost mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
Everyone believed that the ghost of an old lady haunted the crypt.
- 2
archaicA spirit; a human soul.
- 3
Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image.
not a ghost of a chance
- 4
A false image, for example in a photographic print or negative, or on a television screen or radar display, or in a telescope, caused by poor or double reception or reflection (from a lens or screen).
- 5
slangA faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.
- 6
Ellipsis of ghostwriter.
I’ve written both as a ghost for experts and under my name.
- 7
A nonexistent person invented to obtain some (typically fraudulent) benefit.
Before filling out this form, please visit the Pennsic Pre-Registration Page to create your account and enter your campers and ghosts [nonexistent campers one pays for to legitimately increase the size of one's allotted camping space].
- 8
A dead person whose identity is stolen by another (see ghosting).
adjective
- 1
slangIn the form be ghost: not present or involved; absent, gone.
verb
- 1
Of a disembodied soul: to appear (somewhere or to someone) in the form of an apparition; to haunt.
- 2
To imbue (something) with a ghost-like effect or hue.
- 3
To continuously cause (someone or something) trouble; specifically, to continuously be in the thoughts of (someone) in a disturbing manner; to perturb, to trouble.
- 4
slangTo kill (someone).
- 5
To gray out (a visual element) to indicate that it is unavailable.
- 6
To forcibly disconnect (an IRC user) who is using one's reserved nickname.
- 7
slangTo stop communicating with (someone) on social media, through text messages, etc., without explanation, especially as a way of ending a relationship; hence, to end a relationship with (someone) by stopping all communication without explanation.
- 8
UKTo transfer (a prisoner) to another prison, usually without first informing the prisoner.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ghost in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense spirit appearing after death:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fantôme, spectre, esprit, revenant, apparition, fantasme |
| German | Gespenst, Geist, Phantom, Spuk, Erscheinung, Gehuuri |
| Portuguese | fantasma, espectro, espírito, aparição, assombração, abantesma |
| Spanish | fantasma, espectro, espíritu, aparecido, aparición, sombra |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ghost come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).