science

Ghost word

Ghost word is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ghost word rather than just read about it. In short: In linguistics, a ghost word, phantom word, lexical ghost, or vox nihili, is a word published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work even though it had not previously had any meaning or been used intentionally. A ghost word generally originates from readers interpreting a typographical or linguistic error as a word they are not familiar with, and then publishing that word elsewhere under the misco…

Key takeaways

Ghost word belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ghost word to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ghost word from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In linguistics, a ghost word, phantom word, lexical ghost, or vox nihili, is a word published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work even though it had not previously had any meaning or been used intentionally. A ghost word generally originates from readers interpreting a typographical or linguistic error as a word they are not familiar with, and then publishing that word elsewhere under the misconception that it is an established part of the language. Once authoritatively published, a ghost word occasionally may be copied widely and enter legitimate usage, or it may eventually be discovered and removed from dictionaries.

Origin Philologist Walter William Skeat first coined the term in 1886, during his annual address to the Philological Society as its president:

Of all the work which the Society has at various times undertaken, none has ever had so much interest for us, collectively, as the New English Dictionary. Dr Murray, as you will remember, wrote on one occasion a most able article, in order to justify himself in omitting from the Dictionary the word abacot, defined by Webster as "the cap of state formerly used by English kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns". It was rightly and wisely rejected by our Editor on the ground that there is no such word, the alleged form being due to a complete mistake ... due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or to the perfervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors. ... I propose, therefore, to bring under your notice a few more words of the abacot type; words which will come under our Editor's notice in course of time, and which I have little doubt that he will reject. As it is convenient to have a short name for words of this character, I shall take leave to call them "ghost-words." ... I only allow the title of ghost-words to such words, or rather forms, as have no meaning whatever.

... I can adduce at least two that are somewhat startling. The first is kime ... The original ... appeared in the Edinburgh Review for 1808. "The Hindoos ... have some very savage customs ... Some swing on hooks, some run kimes through their hands ..." It turned out that "kimes" was a misprint for "knives", but the word gained currency for some time. Skeat continued with a more drastic example:

A similar instance occurs in a misprint of a passage of one of Walter Scott's novels, but here there is the further amusing circumstance that the etymology of the false word was settled to the satisfaction of some of the readers. In the majority of editions of The Monastery, we read: ... dost thou so soon morse thoughts of slaughter? This word is nothing but a misprint of nurse; but in Notes and Queries two independent correspondents accounted for the word morse etymologically. One explained it as to prime, as when one primes a musket, from O. Fr. amorce, powder for the touchhole (Cotgrave), and the other by to bite (Lat. mordere), hence "to indulge in biting, stinging or gnawing thoughts of slaughter". The latter writes: "That the word as a misprint should have been printed and read by millions for fifty years without being challenged and altered exceeds the bounds of probability." Yet when the original manuscript of Sir Walter Scott was consulted, it was found that the word was there plainly written nurse. One edition of The Monastery containing the misprint was published by the Edinburgh University Press in 1820.

More examples In his address, Skeat exhibited about 100 more specimens that he had collected. Other examples include:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ghost word

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ghost word claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ghost word before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ghost word ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ghost word

In research: Ghost word appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ghost word in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ghost word is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lexis (linguistics), Linguistic error, Vocabulary, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ghost word outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ghost word in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ghost word means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ghost word out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ghost word in simple terms?

Why does Ghost word matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ghost word?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ghost word.