Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hauntology

/hɔːnˈtɒlədʒi/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: hauntol-o-gy
IPA: /hɔːnˈtɒlədʒi/

17

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A concept involving the return or persistence of elements from the social or cultural past.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"So immersed is Marx's rhetoric in the Gothic that Derrida in Specters of Marx creates a neologism for Marx's ontology, transforming it into “hauntology.” Marx argues that in a market economy a ghostly web of simulacra of relationships, exchanges, and circulation hovers over the whole system, indicating that people have had their humanity drained out of them by capitalism and that they are left as ghostly shells."
"The suspicion is inescapable: part of the reason why hauntology should appeal to us so much now is that, unconsciously, and increasing consciously, we suspect that something has died."

Etymology

Borrowed from French hantologie: equivalent to haunt + -ology, and a near-homophone to ontologie (“ontology”); apparently coined by Jacques Derrida in Spectres of Marx (1993).

Word Breakdown

Suffix: haunt

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /hɔːnˈtɒlədʒi/

Usage

Uncountable

Derived Forms

hauntological hauntologist

Phrases

spectral studies spectral turn

Frequently Paired Words

spectral studies spectrality spectral turn

Questions

How do you pronounce hauntology?: The recorded pronunciation is /hɔːnˈtɒlədʒi/.
What does hauntology mean?: A concept involving the return or persistence of elements from the social or cultural past.
Where does hauntology come from?: Borrowed from French hantologie: equivalent to haunt + -ology, and a near-homophone to ontologie (“ontology”); apparently coined by Jacques Derrida in Spectres of Marx (1993).

How to pronounce hauntology

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hauntology”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/hɔːnˈtɒlədʒi/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hauntology”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hauntology” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.