Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling). · To become frightened (by something startling). · To haunt.
A ghost or phantom. · A scare or fright. · An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst. · A black person.
Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *spōk. Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "bor",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nl",
"3": "spook",
"t": "ghost"
},
"expansion": "Dutch spook (“ghost”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dum",
"3": "spooc",
"t": "spook, ghost"
},
"expansion": "Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”)"
},
{
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},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *spōk"
},
{
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"expansion": "Middle Low German spôk"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "gmh",
"2": "gespük",
"t": "a haunting"
},
"expansion": "Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "Spuk"
},
"expansion": "German Spuk"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "spøge",
"t": "to haunt"
},
"expansion": "Danish spøge (“to haunt”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
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"2": "spöke",
"t": "ghost"
},
"expansion": "Swedish spöke (“ghost”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
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],
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[
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],
[
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],
[
"spûk",
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],
[
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],
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],
[
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],
[
"spöke",
"spöke#Swedish"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling).",
"To become frightened (by something startling).",
"To haunt."
],
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"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A ghost or phantom.",
"A scare or fright.",
"An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.",
"A black person."
],
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