wraith
[rāTH]
NOUN
wraiths (plural noun)
a ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death.
synonyms:
ghost · specter · spirit · phantom · apparition · manifestation · vision · shadow · presence · poltergeist · supernatural being · bodach · duppy · spook · shade · visitant · revenant · phantasm · wight · eidolon · manes · lemures
used in reference to a pale, thin, or insubstantial person or thing.
“heart attacks had reduced his mother to a wraith”
literary
a wisp or faint trace of something.
“a sea breeze was sending a gray wraith of smoke up the slopes”
ORIGIN
early 16th century (originally Scots): of unknown origin.
