Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ganfer

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: gan-fer
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A kind of ghost found in the folklore of Orkney and Shetland.

Example Sentences

"[…] by Ghosts here called Ganfers, in all which many place more confidence than in the more reasonable propositions that can be adduced to convince them of the absurdity of such notions."
"... Ganfers or ghosts are, however, very commonly seen, particularly by the sagacious shelty."
"He lay on his bunk, pale as a ganfer."
"... the Ganfers, the Sluagh, the Demons of Hell."

Etymology

Originally a dialectal term from Shetland and Orkney, also denoting certain negative atmospheric phenomena. Thought to ultimately derive from Old Norse gandferð (“gand-journey”), with the first element connected to Old Norse gandr (“evil spirit”). Compare dialectal Norwegian gannfar, gandferd

Origin

Source language: Old Norse

Word Breakdown

Root: gandferð

Inflected Forms

ganfers (plural)

Questions

What does ganfer mean?: A kind of ghost found in the folklore of Orkney and Shetland.
Where does ganfer come from?: It is traced to Old Norse.

How to pronounce ganfer

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