hungry ghost

plural hungry ghosts

1. Chinese folk religionBuddhismA type of supernatural being, condemned to desire more than it can consume; often depicted with large belly and tiny mouth.

   1 more example

   Across Taiwan, households prepared offerings of food, alcohol, candles, flowers, washbowls and towels, in prayer for their ancestors and gods, and to placate the hungry ghosts. The streets filled will smoke as they burned paper money – gold for the gods and silver for the ghosts – in small metal drums.

   2021 August 30, Helen Davidson, Chi-hui Lin, “‘Not open for humans’: Covid changes east Asia’s Ghost Month but free spirits remain”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: preta