phantom

See also: Phantom

English

Alternative forms

• fantom (archaic)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-né-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂n̥yéti

Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō

Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Hellenic *-tós

Ancient Greek -τός (-tós)

Ancient Greek φᾰντός (phăntós)

Proto-Indo-European *-(e)h₂d-yéti?

Ancient Greek -αγ- (-ag-)

Ancient Greek -ᾰ́ς (-ắs)

Proto-Indo-European *-yoh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-yō

Ancient Greek *-ϳω (*-jō)

?

Ancient Greek -ᾰ́ζω (-ắzō)

Ancient Greek φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phăntắzō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Hellenic *-mə

Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă)

Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma)bor.

Latin phantasma

Old French fantosmebor.

Middle English fantome

English phantom

Inherited from Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæntəm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æntəm
• Hyphenation: phan‧tom

Noun

phantom (countable and uncountable, plural phantoms)

Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera

1. A ghost or apparition.
2. Something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no physical reality; an image that appears only in the mind; an illusion or delusion.
3. (bridge) A placeholder for a pair of players when there are an odd number of pairs playing.
4. (medicine, imaging) A test object that reproduces the characteristics of human tissue.
5. (colloquial, uncountable) Short for phantom power

Synonyms

• ghost
• See also Thesaurus:ghost

Derived terms

• giant phantom jelly
• phantogram
• phantomic
• phantomish
• phantomism
• phantomist
• phantomization
• phantomize
• phantomlike
• phantom orchid
• phantom powering
• phantomry
• phantom share
• phantomship
• phantom vibration syndrome
• phantomwise
• phantom word
• phantomy
• quintom

Related terms

• fantasy

Translations

something having no physical reality

• Arabic: سَرَاب (ar) m (sarāb), شَبَح m (šabaḥ), شَبَح m (šabaḥ), شَبْح m (šabḥ)
• Armenian: ուրվական (hy) (urvakan)
• Belarusian: пры́від (be) m (prývid), фанто́м m (fantóm)
• Bulgarian: привиде́ние (bg) n (prividénie), при́зрак (bg) m (prízrak), фанто́м (bg) m (fantóm)
• Catalan: fantasma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幻影 (zh) (huànyǐng)

• Czech: přízrak m
• Danish: fantom c
• Dutch: fantoom (nl)
• Esperanto: fantomo
• Finnish: aave (fi)
• French: fantôme (fr) m
• Galician: pantasma m or f
• German: Phantom (de) n
• Greek: Φαντομάς (Fantomás)

  Ancient Greek: φάντασμα n (phántasma), φάσμα n (phásma)

• Hindi: प्रेत m (pret)
• Irish: amhailt f
• Italian: fantasma (it) m, spettro (it) m
• Japanese: 幻 (ja) (まぼろし, maboroshi), 幻影 (ja) (げんえい, gen'ei)
• Korean: 환영(幻影) (ko) (hwanyeong)
• Māori: mariko, pō-mariko, pō-mārikoriko
• Middle English: fantome
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fantom n

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: شَبَح (fa) (šabah), پَرْهیب (fa) (parhib)

• Plautdietsch: Spuak m
• Polish: fantom (pl) m
• Portuguese: fantasma (pt) m
• Romanian: fantomă (ro) f
• Romansh: fantom m
• Russian: при́зрак (ru) m (prízrak), тень (ru) f (tenʹ), фанто́м (ru) m (fantóm), привиде́ние (ru) n (prividénije)
• Sardinian: pantùma, pantàsima, umbra f
• Slovak: prízrak m
• Spanish: fantasma (es) m
• Sumerian: 𒈠𒊬 (/⁠mamud⁠/), 𒆤 (/⁠lil⁠/), 𒋝𒋝 (/⁠sisig⁠/), 𒄇 (/⁠gidim⁠/)
• Swedish: fantom (sv) m
• Tagalog: bibit
• Tajik: шабаҳ (tg) (šabah)
• Ukrainian: прима́ра (uk) f (prymára), фанто́м m (fantóm), при́вид m (prývyd)

test object

• Portuguese: fantoma (pt) m

Adjective

phantom (not comparable)

1. Illusive.
   • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

     […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”

2. Fictitious or nonexistent.

   a phantom limb

Derived terms

• phantom abandoned call
• phantom bone disease
• phantom call
• phantom circuit
• phantom crane fly
• phantom debt
• phantom energy
• phantom eye syndrome
• phantom goal
• phantom island
• phantom jam
• phantom limb
• phantom midge
• phantomness
• phantom pain
• phantom power
• phantom pregnancy
• phantom punch
• phantom reference
• phantom settlement
• phantom shiner
• phantom stock
• phantom tumour
• phantom type
• phantom withdrawal

Translations

unreal or fictitious

• Bulgarian: илюзорен (bg) (iljuzoren)
• Italian: immaginario (it) m, immaginaria (it) f, irreale (it)
• Māori: mariko
• Russian: нереальный (ru) (nerealʹnyj), иллюзорный (ru) (illjuzornyj), фантомный (ru) (fantomnyj)

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “phantom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Hampton