Resembling or characteristic of a ghost; pale, transparent, eerie, or supernatural in appearance or quality.
Formed from 'ghost' (Old English 'gāst') plus the diminutive or descriptive suffix '-y,' common in English for creating informal adjectives from nouns (like 'spooky' from 'spook').
The word 'ghosty' is less formal than 'ghostly' and carries almost a playful tone, which is why it appears more in children's literature and casual speech—'ghosty' sounds approachable while 'ghostly' sounds genuinely eerie.
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