Welcome to Vocabulary Wednesday

~Words To Help You Write Better

What are Ghost Words?

No, this has nothing to do with that horror story you were reading last night!

A Ghost Word is a word in a dictionary or another list of words that is not a real word and is usually there because of a mistake.
The term was coined by Professor Walter William Skeat in 1886. In a yearly address to the London Philological Society, Skeat called out several erroneous words. These included abacot, the misspelling of “a bycoket” (a type of headwear); kimes, which came about as the misspelling of “knives”; and morse, which was a misspelling of “nurse.”

When ghost words appear in dictionaries on purpose, like Esquivalence, to protect from copyright fraud, they are called Mountweazels.

Here is an interesting article about some ghost words and how they came about. Have a look!

Use this word in your own work. Post the link in the comments. Inspire us with your creativity!

If you find WORD FACTS ~Ghost Words interesting or useful, please share it forward.
“Knowledge shared is power multiplied” – Robert Noyce

For more, visit Vocabulary Wednesday. Read more, write better.