Ghost Word (Noun)
Meaning
A word form that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The term "abscissa" was once considered a ghost word, arising from a mistaken transcription of the original Latin word "apsis".
- A common example of a ghost word is "dord", which was accidentally included in the dictionary Merriam-Webster's Second New International Dictionary for decades.
- The existence of the word "quarenden" as a ghost word can be attributed to a 17th-century mistake in a dictionary.
- Some linguists consider the word "sandblind" to be a ghost word, as its meaning seems to have been reversed over time through mistaken usage.
- In some editions of the Dictionary of American English, the entry for "tintinnalogical" was mistakenly kept as an example of a ghost word due to a supposed false etymology.