sprite

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sprit, also sprite, spret and spreit,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman esprite and esprit, variants of Old French espirit and esperit (“spirit”),^[4][2] from Latin spīritus,^[3][5][6][7] the source of spirit, which keeps the Latin form; the two are etymological doublets.^[5][4][6] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English explain the form instead as an alteration, with a lengthened vowel, of sprit, a contraction of spirit.^[8][9][10] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1113–19, already also for an incorporeal being or a demon.^[11] The spelling spright arose, according to the OED, as a purely graphic variant on the model of words such as might and bright;^[4] Skeat calls it a false spelling, kept in sprightly.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Spirit, especially the Holy Spirit: about 1303, as spryt, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,^[3][4] c. 1300 in Etymonline.^[5] The OED's earliest sense, the non-physical part of a person, the soul, is first recorded in the Ayenbite of 1340.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English sprite could have any sense of spirit: breath, the principle of life, the Holy Ghost, the mind, mood or will.^[5][2] From the mid 14th century it also meant an immaterial being, an angel or demon, an elf or fairy, or a ghost;^[5][2] the OED dates this sense from about 1440, and in later use it is the sense that sets sprite apart from spirit.^[4] In the plural it meant a person's spirits or feelings, from a manuscript of Chaucer's Knight's Tale to 1629;^[4][9] from about 1540 it also meant courage or boldness, a use now rare and chiefly Scottish or poetic.^[4][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a spirit; an incorporeal agent", quoting Pope.^[12] From 1684, in Otway, it was used of a person or animal likened to a sprite, small, lively or mischievous.^[4][9] Two modern technical senses followed: a movable graphic element on a computer screen (1979) and a faint reddish flash high above a thunderstorm (1994).^[4] In East Anglian dialect sprite was the green woodpecker, and in Northamptonshire and Herefordshire an adjective meaning quick or lively.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – spryt, spirit, the Holy Spirit.^[3][4]
• 1340 – the soul, the non-physical part of a person (obsolete by 1928).^[4]
• c. 1415 – plural, a person's spirits or feelings (obsolete by 1629).^[4]
• c. 1440 – an incorporeal being; later especially a small fairy or elf.^[4]
• c. 1540 – courage, boldness (now rare).^[4]
• 1684 – a person or animal likened to a sprite.^[4]
• 1979 – in computing, a graphic element that can be moved independently.^[4]
• 1994 – in atmospheric physics, a short-lived flash above a thunderstorm.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An elf, fairy or pixie, usually small and mischievous; in folklore especially one linked with water.^[14][15][9]
2. A small, lively or dainty person, especially a child.^[14][9][15]
3. A ghost or disembodied spirit.^[15][9]
4. (computing) A graphic figure that can be moved around the screen as a single unit, as in a video game.^[14][9][4]
5. A faint, short-lived, usually reddish flash of electrical discharge high in the atmosphere above a thunderstorm.^[4][15]
6. (archaic) The soul; a person's inner being.^[15][9]

Word family

• spritehood
• spriteless
• spritelike
• water sprite

Related words

• sprightly
• spirit
• spright
• esprit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster