phantom
/ˈfæntəm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.78 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no physical reality; an image that appears only in the mind; an illusion or delusion.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A placeholder for a pair of players when there are an odd number of pairs playing.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
adj
noun
Nickname of the F-4B jet fighter flown by U.S. marines in Vietnam.
Example Sentences
- "[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”"
- "a phantom limb"
- "Paul pulled out the Phantom; niggas can't stand it but them hoes gonna come out."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō) Ancient Greek φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phăntắzō) Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Hellenic *-mə Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă) Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma)bor. Latin phantasma Old French fantosmebor. Middle English fantome English phantom Inherited from Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.