幽霊

Japanese

Kanji in this term
幽	霊
ゆう Grade: S	れい Grade: S
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
幽靈 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 幽靈／幽灵 (ʔjiw leng, literally “dark + supernatural”). Compare modern Mandarin reading yōulíng, Min Nan iu-lêng.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ゆ​うれー [yúꜜùrèè] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝːɾe̞ː]

Noun

幽(ゆう)霊(れい) • (yūrei) ^{←いうれい (iurei)?}

1. a ghost, a phantom

Synonyms

Synonyms

• お化(ば)け (obake): a ghost, a monster
• 死霊(しりょう) (shiryō), 死霊(しれい) (shirei): a spirit of the dead, a ghost, a departed soul

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 幽霊烏賊(ゆうれいいか) (yūreiika)
• 幽霊会社(ゆうれいがいしゃ) (yūreigaisha): a phantom company: a paper company, a company that exists in name only
• 幽霊株(ゆうれいかぶ) (yūrei kabu): phantom shares, phantom stock: company stock that has not actually been traded, but for which a sale or purchase is fraudulently recorded
• 幽霊蜘蛛(ゆうれいぐも) (yūreigumo): daddy longlegs spider
• 幽霊人口(ゆうれいじんこう) (yūrei jinkō): phantom population: population figures that are artificially inflated from fraudulent paperwork
• 幽霊船(ゆうれいせん) (yūreisen): a ghost ship
• 幽霊茸(ゆうれいたけ) (yūreitake)
• 幽霊(ゆうれい)の正体見(しょうたいみ)たり枯(か)れ尾花(おばな) (yūrei no shōtai mitari kare obana)
• 幽霊(ゆうれい)の浜風(はまかぜ) (yūrei no hamakaze)
• 幽霊花(ゆうれいばな) (yūreibana)
• 幽霊火(ゆうれいび) (yūreibi)
• 幽霊文字(ゆうれいもじ) (yūrei moji): ghost characters, Chinese characters of unknown origin or meaning
• 幽霊屋敷(ゆうれいやしき) (yūrei yashiki): a haunted house

References

• 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Okinawan

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 幽霊 (yūrei).

Noun

幽霊(ゆーりー) (yūrī) 

1. ghost