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ghost word

noun

  1. a word that has come into existence by error rather than by normal linguistic transmission, as through the mistaken reading of a manuscript, a scribal error, or a misprint.


ghost word

noun

  1. a word that has entered the language through the perpetuation, in dictionaries, etc, of an error
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of ghost word1

First recorded in 1885–90
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Example Sentences

And the word “dord,” one of the strangest in the whole dictionary, is known as a “ghost word.”

But it is unrecorded in literature and labours under the suspicion of being a ghost-word.

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