幽魂 (yōu hún) — spirit, specter, ghost (often with a haunting or eerie connotation)

Definition

Literary word for a wandering, haunting ghost or specter — more eerie and written than the everyday 鬼, and used mainly in fiction, poetry, or dramatic storytelling.

noun
spiritspecterghost (often with a haunting or eerie connotation)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 幽魂。
    Chuán shuō zhè zuò gǔ zhái lǐ cháng yǒu yōu hún chū mò.
    Legend has it that spirits often haunt this old mansion.
  • 幽魂。
    Tā zài mèng zhōng jiàn dào yí gè yōu hún.
    He saw a specter in his dream.
  • 幽魂。
    Zhè ge gù shi jiǎng de shì yí gè yōu hún de fù chóu.
    This story is about a ghost's revenge.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

幽yōughostly
魂húnspirit

幽 suggests ghostly darkness and 魂 means spirit, together naming a specter.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
山山shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢆶
𢆶𢆶幽yōu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

幽 pairs 山, mountain, with 𢆶 as a sound part.

Open 幽 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鬼鬼guǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
云
云yún魂hún(r)
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

魂 is made from 鬼, the ghost component, plus 云, which supplies the sound.

Open 魂 →

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