Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wraith

/ɹeɪθ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.03 in modern English

Syllables: wraith
IPA: /ɹeɪθ/

12

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

1

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

Example Sentences

"We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing."
"Like wraiths with the impediments of bodies they stumbled in the direction of Salthill faces."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 in a translation of the Aeneid. The word has no certain etymology; it may be a transferred use of Middle Scots wraith, wrath (nominally "anger, rage", adjectivally "angry, wrathful"), thus connecting it to writhe and making it a doublet of wrath and wroth. The old Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (“guardian”).

Inflected Forms

wraiths (plural)

Derived Forms

Ringwraith wraithful wraithish wraithlike wraithly wraithy

Synonyms

ghost shade spook specter spectre wight

Rhymes With

faith 8th eighth saith interfaith kth jth scathe saithe staithe graith staith

Questions

How do you pronounce wraith?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɹeɪθ/.
What does wraith mean?: A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.
Where does wraith come from?: Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 in a translation of the Aeneid. The word has no certain etymology; it may be a transferred use of Middle Scots wraith, wrath (nominally "anger, rage", adjectivally "angry, wrathful"), thus connecting it to writhe and making it a doublet of wrath and wroth. The old Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (“guardian”).

How to pronounce wraith

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