Etymologically
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poltergeist

Etymology and origin of the English word poltergeist

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɒl.tə.ɡaɪst/, /ˈpəʊl.təˌɡaɪst/ (UK); /ˈpoʊl.tɚˌɡaɪst/ (US)[1]

Etymology

borrowed from German Poltergeist (“noisy ghost”),[2][3][4][5][1] from poltern “to make noise, knock, rattle” + Geist “ghost”.[6][2][3][4][5] Poltern comes from Middle High German boldern;[6] Etymonline traces it to a Proto-Indo-European root *bhel- “to sound, roar”, also the source of bell and bellow.[2] German Geist is a cognate of English ghost.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spirit that makes its presence known by noises.[7][2] Etymonline dates the English word to 1838; the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster to 1848.[2][7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the German: an unseen spirit blamed for knocking and rapping,[6][4][5] and, later, for throwing objects about and causing disorder.[6][1] Etymonline notes that in the native folk tradition of northern England the same mischief would have been blamed on a boggart.[2]

Timeline

  • 1838 – first English use according to Etymonline.[2]
  • 1848 – first quotation in the OED.[7][3][4]
  • 1952 – poltergeistic, poltergeistism.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A ghost that reveals itself by noises, such as knocking, and by moving objects or creating disorder.

Related words

References

  1. [1] [2] [3] [4] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. [1] [2] [3] [4] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. [1] [2] [3] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. [1] [2] [3] [4] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Poltergeist.” Etymologically, 7 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/poltergeist. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .