A “Ghost Word” Is a Word that Became a Word by Error

On occasion, a word finds its way into existence not because of normal linguistic evolution or a cultural reference, but rather due to a mistake like a misinterpretation or a misprint in the dictionary. These terms are called “ghost words.”

For instance, in 1934, Webster’s Second New International Dictionary included the non-existent word “dord” after someone misread a note written by Austin M. Paterson, Webster’s former chemistry editor. According to Grammarly, “The note said ‘D or d, cont./density,’ and it referred to the uppercase letter D (or lowercase d) being used as an abbreviation for density. ‘D or d’ became ‘dord,’ a word that meant ‘density.’” A Webster’s editor noticed the error five years later and removed it from the dictionary, but other dictionary compilers repeated the initial error, allowing the word to haunt the English language for far too long.