spook

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spuːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”),^[2][3][4][5] from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”).^[2][3][4] The word has Germanic relatives such as Middle Low German spōk and German Spuk (“ghost, apparition”),^[3][4][5] but its further origin is unknown.^[3][4] The OED finds no certain cognates outside Germanic.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ghost or spectre, often used jokingly; first in American English (1801).^[6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first appeared in print in a comic dialect poem attributed to an old Dutchman in Albany, New York,^[4] and its early use was American.^[6] A related form spuke entered Pennsylvania English by 1830 from German Spuk.^[4] The ghostly sense led to a verb, at first “to walk as a ghost” (1867–71)^[4][6][3] and “to haunt” (1883),^[6][5] and in the 20th century to the senses “to frighten” (1935) and “to take fright” (1928).^[4][6] An undercover agent was called a spook by 1942,^[6] and the word was also used from the 1940s as a racial slur.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1801 – a ghost or spectre.^[6][3][4][5]
• 1867 – verb, to haunt or scare (Barnhart); to walk as a ghost (Etymonline).^[3][4]
• 1883 – verb, to haunt a person or place.^[6][5]
• 1928 – to take fright, to become alarmed.^[6][4]
• 1935 – to frighten or unnerve.^[6][4]
• 1942 – an undercover agent, a spy.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A ghost or specter.
2. (slang) An undercover agent; a spy.
3. (slang, offensive) A disparaging term for a Black person.

Verb

1. To haunt.
2. To frighten or unnerve, especially to startle an animal into sudden flight.
3. To become frightened or nervous, used especially of animals.

Word family

• spookish
• spookery
• spooky

Related words

• specter
• phantom

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press