wraith
/ɹeɪθ/noun
wraith is spelled W-R-A-I-T-H: 6 letters. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wraith means “A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wraith is wraiths.
How many letters and syllables are in wraith?
| Letters | 6: W-R-A-I-T-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is wraith?
Wraith appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th 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 wraith?
- /ɹeɪθ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wraith.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of wraith
- wraiths plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wraith mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wraith in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fantôme, spectre |
| German | Gespenst |
| Portuguese | espectro, aparição, fantasma |
| Spanish | fantasma, espectro |
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 wraith come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).