wraith

A wraith is not just an ordinary ghost story figure. It is usually a faint, shadowy image of a person, especially one seen shortly before death as a sign of what is coming. In older stories, people might catch a brief glimpse of such a figure and take it as an omen. The word carries a strong sense of folklore, mystery, and something not fully of this world.

The word "wraith" brings to mind a ghostly figure, but its older meaning is more specific. In traditional belief, a wraith was often an apparition of a living person seen shortly before that person's death. It was like a spectral double, a sign that death was near. This idea appears especially in Scottish folklore, where seeing such a figure was taken as a frightening omen.

Today, "wraith" is also used more broadly for any ghostly image or phantom: a shadowy, insubstantial figure that seems barely there. The word suggests something thin, pale, or hard to grasp, more like a dim presence than a solid being.

You might meet the term in fantasy literature, where wraiths are often shown as evil spirits or undead beings. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings has the Ringwraiths, dark servants of Sauron. Outside fiction, the word can also be used metaphorically for someone who looks pale, weak, or reduced by illness or suffering: "After weeks of illness, she was a wraith of her former self."

So whether it appears as a death omen in old folklore, a ghostly figure in fiction, or a metaphor for someone worn down and fading, a wraith is always linked with something shadowy, eerie, and close to the edge between life and death.