ghoul

English

Alternative forms

• ghole

Etymology

Persian غول (ğul) — an imaginary sylvan demon, supposed to devour men and animals. Cognate to Arabic غول and French goule, and to English alcohol.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡʊəl/
• Rhymes: -uːl

Noun

ghoul (plural ghouls)

1. (mythology, folklore) A spirit said to feed on corpses.
   • 1927 — H.P. Lovecraft, Pickman's Model

     The other chamber had shown a pack of ghouls and witches over-running the world of our forefathers, but this one brought the horror right into our own daily life!.

2. A graverobber; a person with an undue interest in death and corpses.

Synonyms

• (spirit said to feed on corpses): demon
• (graverobber): resurrectionist

Derived terms

• ghoulish

Translations

a spirit said to feed on corpses

• Arabic: غول (ar) (ğūl) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食屍鬼 (cmn), 食尸鬼 (cmn) (shíshīguǐ)

• Czech: ghůl (cs) m
• Finnish: ghouli (fi)
• French: goule (fr) f
• German: Ghul (de) m, Ghoul (de) m
• Hebrew: ע'ול (he) m
• Icelandic: náæta (is) f

• Italian: gula (it), ghoul (it)
• Japanese: グール (ja) (gūru)
• Korean: 구울 (ko) (guul)
• Ojibwe: wiindigoo
• Persian: غول (fa) (ğul)
• Polish: ghul (pl) m
• Portuguese: ghoul (pt), ghul (pt), ghol (pt)
• Russian: гуль (ru) (gul') m, вурдалак (ru) (vurdalák) m, вампир (ru) (vampir) m
• Spanish: gul (es) m, gol (es) m

a graverobber

• Icelandic: líkræningi (is) m

• Russian: кладбищенский вор (ru) (kladbiščenskij vor)

Anagrams

• lough