Ghost

The English term 'ghost' derives from Old English gāst ('breath, spirit, soul, ghost'), tracing to Proto-Germanic *gaistaz and a reconstructed Indo-European root; historically the term covered senses from life-breath and divine spirit to the souls of the dead. Folkloric belief in ghosts is widespread and ancient, often placed by scholars as continuous with animism and ancestor-worship practices in pre-literate societies. Across cultures the ghost concept functions as the continued presence or agency of a formerly living being, connected to social practices (for example, funeral rites) that manage the transition of the dead.

Descriptions vary widely: ghosts may be experienced as an unseen presence, as translucent or wispy shapes, or as realistic, lifelike apparitions resembling the deceased human or animal. Most accounts describe solitary, humanlike essences, though traditions also include animal ghosts and larger phenomena such as spectral groups; related terminology (for example, 'poltergeist'—literally 'noisy ghost' in German) marks behavioral or appearance subtypes rather than a single fixed image.

Folkloric attributions include the ability to appear to the living and to haunt locations, objects, or people associated with them in life; some traditions describe interaction with the physical environment (the poltergeist type is associated with unexplained movement or disturbance of objects). Cultural practices such as necromancy or spiritist séances are named as deliberate techniques for contacting such spirits. Modern scientific sources emphasize that there is no proof of ghosts and often explain reported experiences by alternative causes (neurological disease, certain drugs, or environmental toxins such as carbon monoxide), presenting a competing interpretive frame to folkloric claims.