specter

English

WOTD – 26 October 2015

Alternative forms

• spectre (Commonwealth English)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛktɚ/, enPR: spĕkʹtər
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛktə/, enPR: spĕkʹtə

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

Noun

specter (plural specters) (American spelling)

2. A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost

   A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.

   • 1605, Peter de Loier [i.e., Pierre Le Loyer], translated by [Zachary Jones], “The many things being meerely Naturall are taken by the Sight or Hearing being deceived, for Specters and things prodigious”, in A Treatise of Specters or Straunge Sights, Visions and Apparitions Appearing Sensibly vnto Men. […], London: […] Val[entine] S[immes] for Mathew Lownes, →OCLC, folio 62, verso:

     Nevertheleſſe, they which ſhould ſee thoſe Iſles thus to moove in this manner, not knowing before that the ſame were naturall: they would entertaine many and diverſe apprehenſions in their fantaſie, & would imagine that they ſawe a thing very ſtrange and prodigious, and ſuch as did very neere approach to the nature of ſome Specter [translating spectre] and viſion.

4. (figuratively) A threatening mental image; an unpleasant prospect [from 18th c.]
   • 1848, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, translated by Samuel Moore, The Communist Manifesto:

     A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

   • 2022 September 27, Mark Landler, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up.

   • 2024 August 14, “Thai court removes PM Srettha Thavisin from office over cabinet appointment”, in france24.com‎^[2]:

     Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.

6. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• Brocken specter
• Macleay's spectre
• mountain specter
• raise the specter
• specter at the feast
• specter bat
• specter candle
• specter shrimp
• spectral

 

Translations

ghostly apparition

• Albanian: abe (sq) f, stihi (sq) f, hije (sq) f
• Arabic: شَبَح m (šabaḥ), شَبْح m (šabḥ)
• Belarusian: пры́від (be) m (prývid)
• Bulgarian: призрак (bg) m (prizrak), привиде́ние (bg) n (prividénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幽靈 / 幽灵 (zh) (yōulíng), 鬼魂 (zh) (guǐhún)

• Czech: strašidlo (cs) n, přízrak m
• Egyptian: (ꜣḫ)
• Esperanto: fantomo, apero
• Finnish: kummitus (fi)
• French: spectre (fr)
• German: Gespenst (de) n, Spuk (de) m
• Greek: φάντασμα (el) (fántasma)

  Ancient: φάσμα n (phásma), φάντασμα n (phántasma)

• Hindi: भूत (hi) m (bhūt)
• Irish: arracht m
• Italian: spettro (it) m, fantasma (it) m
• Japanese: 幽霊 (ja) (ゆうれい, yūrei), 亡霊 (ja) (ぼうれい, bōrei)
• Korean: 유령(幽靈) (ko) (yuryeong)
• Latin: spectrum n, phasma (la) n
• Old English: scucca m
• Persian: شبح (fa) (šabah)
• Polish: widmo (pl) n, zjawa (pl) f
• Portuguese: espectro (pt) m, aparição (pt) f
• Romanian: spectru (ro) n, fantomă (ro) f, fantasmă (ro) f
• Russian: при́зрак (ru) m (prízrak), привиде́ние (ru) n (prividénije), фанто́м (ru) m (fantóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgàile f, tannasg m, taibhse m or f
• Spanish: espectro (es) m
• Sumerian: 𒄇 (/⁠gidim⁠/), 𒆤 (/⁠lil⁠/), 𒋝𒋝 (/⁠sisig⁠/)
• Swedish: vålnad (sv), spöke (sv) n
• Ukrainian: при́вид m (prývyd)
• Urdu: بهوت m (bhūt)
• Vietnamese: bóng ma (vi), ma (vi)

mental image

• Bulgarian: фантом (bg) m (fantom)
• Czech: přízrak f, strašák (cs) f, hrozba (cs) f
• Esperanto: spektro
• German: Schreckgespenst (de) n, Spuk (de) m
• Greek: σκιά (el) f (skiá)
• Romanian: fantomă (ro) f
• Russian: фанто́м (ru) m (fantóm)
• Spanish: imagen (es)
• Swedish: spöke (sv) n

Anagrams

• Sceptre, recepts, respect, scepter, sceptre, spectre

Latin

Verb

specter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of spectō