spirit tablet

noun

spirit tablet; ancestral tablet; memorial tablet (tombstone tablet with the name and details of the deceased or an ancestor inscribed on it, usually found in Chinese or generally East Asian columbariums)

OriginChinese 神牌 →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounspirit tablet (plural spirit tablets)

plural spirit tablets

  1. spirit tablet; ancestral tablet; memorial tablet (tombstone tablet with the name and details of the deceased or an ancestor inscribed on it, usually found in Chinese or generally East Asian columbariums)

Origin

  1. Chinese神牌
  2. Englishspirit tablet

Calque of Chinese 神牌 (shénpái)

More words from Chinese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

spirit tablet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spirit%20tablet

MLA

“spirit tablet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spirit%20tablet. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spirit tablet,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spirit%20tablet.

Source: spirit tablet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.