wraith

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a mental representation of some haunting experience

Etymology

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. Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (“guardian”); Klein compares Irish arracht (“apparition”), which is related to riocht (“shape, likeness”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

ghost, shade, spook, specter, spectre

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