Etymology

specter

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Today it means: A ghostly apparition, a phantom. Full definition →

Middle French spectre ← Latin spectrum
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromspectrum“appearance, apparition”
  2. Middle French · borrowed fromspectre
  3. English todayspecter

From Middle French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.

Words from the same roots

Latinspectrum all →

spectrum

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.