spook

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric
  2. noun a mental representation of some haunting experience
  3. verb frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

creep, weirdo, weirdie, weirdy

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