Fake word in dictionary

Does your writing bring ghost words back from the dead?

Don’t be spooked. Ghost words have haunted our publications for centuries, lurking in dark corners of our dictionaries until skilled wordsmiths—think linguistic Ghost Busters—zap them from official documentation.

Except, of course, the Internet.

We often say or write words that aren’t actually words. But when these fake words receive false backing from published dictionaries, it can be difficult for even professionals to detect what’s a real word and what’s, well, dead.

So, what are ghost words? And what fake words have skulked the pages of our books?

What are Ghost Words?

Professor Walter W. Skeat, a well-respected lexicographer, was the first to coin the phrase. As delivered in his Philological Society presidential address in 1886 (start at page 350), Skeat states that ghost words are “words which have no real existence.”

Like ghosts, we may seem to see them, or may fancy that they exist; but they have no real entity. We cannot grasp them; when we would do so, they disappear.

Professor Walter W. Skeat

In short, a ghost word is a fake term that was once published in dictionaries due to an error or a misunderstanding, be it a misinterpretation, mispronunciation, misreading or a typo. While ghost words are accidentally published in dictionaries and authoritative reference works, they tend to be used rarely (if ever) in actual conversation or written communication.

Ghost words creep across the globe, infiltrating languages from every continent. While a ghost word can speak in many tongues, the focus of this blog post is to capture ghost words in the English language.

In turn, ghost words often appeared in literary works over the years but never as defined words in dictionaries and/or authoritative reference books. These ghost words are not included in this list for that reason.

Dord

As the most commonly referenced ghost word, dord was once believed to mean “density,” according to the 1934 second edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary.

Except that it doesn’t. Dictionary editor Philip Babcock Gove caught the mistake five years later, noticing that dord lacked etymology.

After checking the files, he found a note from Chemistry editor Austin M. Patterson that read “D or d, cont./density.” Patterson’s intention was to add the word “density” to the existing list of words that the letter D (either capitalized or lowercase) can abbreviate.

Instead, “D or d” became its own accidental word as “dord” with the definition of “cont./density,” bypassing printers and proofreaders as a real word.

While Merriam-Webster stopped publishing “dord” as a word by 1940, this ghost word kept popping up in textbooks and other publications until 1947. It wasn’t until May 1954 that Gove set the record straight in American Speech.

Abacot

This ghost word has haunted us for hundreds of years, debuting in the second edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles in 1587. This comprehensive history of England, Scotland and Ireland claimed that a “high cap of estate, called Abacot” was made like a double crown and worn anciently by the Kings of England.

This lordly ghost word ascended the linguistical throne with its later publication in Spelman’s Glossarium (first English dictionary for law terms) and every prominent dictionary after that. James Murray, primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, ended its reign in 1882 when he made the case that abacot was actually a misprint of “bycocket” (a hat shaped like a bird’s beak).

Like any infamous word, abacot is dying a slow death. Authors and students of heraldry mistakenly include the ghost word within their papers and publications since it can be referenced in older, revered publications.

Adventine

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, with editions between 1755 and 1785, is known for being flawed. After all, his publication did claim that no word began with the letter X.

Then again, Johnson did have the courage to publish the word “arse” for the first time.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that his dictionary holds a ghost word or two. Johnson defines adventine as “adventitious; that which is extrinsically added.” He notes that adventine is a “word scarcely in use” with Francis Bacon’s Historia Naturalis as his source:

As for the peregrine heat, it is thus far true, that, if proportion of the adventine heat be greatly predominant to the natural heat and spirits of the body, it tendeth to dissolution or notable alteration.

Historia Naturalis

However, on closer inspection, Bacon’s work actually intended the word to be “adventive.” Coincidentally enough, this word is also in Johnson’s dictionary with Bacon again as his source, as are hundreds of words within the 1755 edition.

Johnson wasn’t the only one fooled. In fact, multiple US newspapers published “adventine” as a word within their articles as late as 1920.

Phantomnation

Talk about a ghostly ghost word! Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language in 1864 defined phantomnation as the “appearance as of a phantom; illusion.”

Dictionaries often listed Alexander Pope’s 1725 translation of The Odyssey as their example (which has since been corrected):

These solemn vows and holy offerings paid

To all the phantomnations of the dead.

Thing is, phantomnation actually derives from the phrase “phantom nation” or “phantom-nation.” In fact, it first appeared in Richard Paul Jodrell’s The Philology of English Language. Since he dropped hyphens from compound words, phantom-nation appeared in print as phantomnation.

Momblishness

Your guess on the meaning of this ghost word is close to its fictitious definition: “muttering talk.” That’s what was printed in the Oxford English Dictionary for momblishness which closely resembles the word “mumble.”

Turns out, this ghost word came to be from a scribal error, as detected by our dear friend Professor Skeat. As discussed at a Philological Society meeting in 1896, the misspelling first appeared in William Thynne’s publication The Workes of Geffray Chaucer in 1532 within the ninth stanza of the poem “The Assembly of Ladies”:

And howe they [the daisies] were acompanyed with mo

Ne momblysnesse and souenesse also ;

The poure penses were not disloged there ;

Because the poetry is referencing flowers here, “ne momblysnesse” is supposed to be “ne-m’oublie-mies” (plural for forget-me-nots). Just as “sounesse” is supposed to be “sovenez” (remember mes) and “penses” is supposed to be “pansies.”

The spelling of these words has since been corrected in Chaucer’s poem, thanks to Skeat. How momblishness crept into dictionaries isn’t certain, but it evaporated from reference book pages soon after Skeat’s discovery.

Did I miss any important ghost words? Share your spotted ghost words in the comments section below.

I’m a little skeptical of the «expediate» story given. They call it a «typo», but it could just have easily been what Sir Edwin Sandys actually thought was the verb form of «expeditious», which seems like a very natural mistake for an English speaker. In other words, a typo would be a failed attempt to write «expedite», but if he meant to write «expediate» he was mistaken in his word choice, but it’s not a typo.

They also imply that it became popular because it was mistakenly added into the dictionary. I’d be surprised if there’s any evidence that demonstrates this, as opposed to the alternative possibility, i.e. that it’s a very natural mistake that people kept making & spreading independent of the dictionary.

Also, I looked up the «sneeze» etymology and, while «fneeze» was the old form, the explanation given (people misreading the <f> as a long <s>) «has been suggested» but not known to be true. Apparently «snore» and «snort» both also had earlier f-forms, so the fneeze-to-sneeze shift may be the consequence of a more general sound change rather than a single mistake.

You have arrived at this webpage in all likelihood because you are in need of some fake words or a fake word generator. If that’s the case, you’re in exactly the right place. We created the Random Fake Word Generator specifically so you can find a bunch of fake words (sometimes called pseudo words, made up words, or nonsense words). Creating these made-up words is simple. All you need to do is choose the number of fake words you’d like to see and then hit the button. You’ll instantly see the results.

What is a Fake Word?

Fake words are simply made up words that appear to be real, but actually don’t exist and don’t have any meaning. They initially appear real because they can be pronounced which makes it seem like they would be real words. This leads to the question of why in the world would anyone needs to find fake words or use a fake word generator? It does seem a bit strange at first, but there are actually a number of legitimate reasons why people find this free nonsense word tool useful. Below we list a few of the more common reasons that people might want to generate random pseudo words.

Creativity

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Writing Challenges

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Naming Projects

If you’re in a situation where you need to come up with a name for a project or some other entity, using a fake word generator can be a great way to begin. While none of the random fake words will likely be the exact word you ultimately decide to use, they can be a good beginning point to create the perfect new word for your needs. Generate random nonsense words and begin saying them out loud. This should help you find the sounds you like and it can ultimately help you create the perfect new word for your project.

Codewords

If you and your friends want to be able to tell each other information without anyone else being able to know what you’re talking about, creating a set of pseudo words is a great way to do this. You and your friends come up with a definition of each of the fake words and you can say them anytime with anyone listening. While you’ll know what you’re talking about, nobody else around you will understand the nonsense words coming out of your mouths. You now have secret codewords that you can use at any time!

Improve Your Gibberish

A wonderful way to improve your gibberish is to find fake words and pronounce them so they easily roll off your tongue. All those nonsense words coming out of your mouth are now your own gibberish language. The more pseudo words and made up words you can use when speaking without hesitation will improve your overall gibberish. This is a skill that every baby you meet will absolutely love!

We appreciate you taking the time to use our fake word generator. While we know some of the ways that this tool is being used, if you happen to be using it for another reason not listed above, we’d love to hear from you. We know from experience that the tools we create are sometimes used in ways we never anticipated. When this happens, it helps us a lot to know these unique ways the fake word generator is being used as it can help us make improvements to the tool when we make updates. If you have any ideas or suggestions on how to make this made up word generator more useful, please send us an email to let us know.

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Jump down to the Generator

It is quite a task thinking up great made-up words that are unique, so I created this word generator to help you come up with the best fake word ideas. They can be great for
naming your website, business, product or project. Fake words or pseudowords are words which look like they are real, but actually have no meaning. They are easy to pronounce, and
this also helps to make them sound like they are real. Pseudowords have been around ever since our brain evolved the ability to process language, it is probably how all our modern
day words came into being. A language has a lot of sounds called phonemes which when used in various combinations, you can create relatable sounds that do not
have any meaning behind them, this is where a meaning could be attached to a sound to create a new word.

This fake word generator will generate all kinds of words, some put words together, others are totally new! You can also keep a short list of fake words that you like
by clicking on that word in the list under the generator named ‘fake words generated’. If you have a fake word you would like to add to the fake word generator
contact us and we will add it to the list.

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