Meanings
plural wraiths
- A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.
Like wraiths with the impediments of bodies they stumbled in the direction of Salthill faces.
2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 801 more example
We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing.
1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Sola Tells Me Her Story”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., October 1917, →OCLC, pages 159–160
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna mental representation of some haunting experience
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Scotswraith
- Englishwraith
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. The old Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (“guardian”).
More words from Middle Scots
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian привидение
- привидение (prividenie)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Chinese Mandarin 鬼魂, 幽靈 /幽灵
- 鬼魂 (guǐhún)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- 幽靈 /幽灵 (yōulíng)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- 幽魂 (yōuhún)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Czech přízrak, zjevení
- přízrakA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- zjeveníA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Dutch spook, geestverschijning
- spookA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- geestverschijningA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Finnish henki, haamu
- henkiA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- haamuA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
French fantôme, spectre
- fantômeA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- spectreA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
German Gespenst
- GespenstA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Hungarian lidérc
- lidércA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Icelandic draugur
- draugurA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Irish taibhse
- taibhseA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Italian spettro
- spettroA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Japanese 幽霊
- 幽霊 (yūrei)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Korean 유령
- 유령 (yuryeong)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Polish widmo, zjawa
- widmoA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- zjawaA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Portuguese espectro, aparição
- espectroA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- apariçãoA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- fantasmaA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Russian при́зрак
- при́зрак (prízrak)A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Scottish Gaelic sgàile, tannasg
- sgàileA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- tannasgA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- taibhseA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Spanish fantasma, espectro
- fantasmaA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
- espectroA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Swedish vålnad
- vålnadA ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with wraith
All rhymes →Cite this entry
wraith. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wraith
“wraith.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wraith. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wraith,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wraith.
Source: wraith on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.