Resembling a ghost in appearance or manner; pale, eerie, translucent, or ethereal.
From 'ghost' + '-like' suffix (meaning resembling or similar to, as in 'child-like' or 'dreamlike'). A compound adjective that's more commonly used than 'ghostly' in modern English.
The '-like' suffix is incredibly productive and keeps growing—we now say 'ghostlike' for things that resemble ghosts, and new '-like' words appear constantly (TikTok, TikTok-like), making it one of English's most flexible suffixes.
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