幽霊

Japanese

From Middle Chinese compound 幽靈 (ʔjiw leng, literally “dark + supernatural”). Compare modern Mandarin reading yōulíng, Min Nan iu-lêng.

On’yomi: Kan’on
- (Tokyo) ゆうれー [yúꜜùrèè] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
- IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝːɾe̞ː]

幽霊 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 幽靈, hiragana ゆうれい, rōmaji yūrei, historical hiragana いうれい)

お化 (ば)け (obake): a ghost, a monster
死 (し)霊 (りょう) (shiryō), 死 (し)霊 (れい) (shirei): a spirit of the dead, a ghost, a departed soul

幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)烏 (い)賊 (か) (yūreiika)
幽霊会社 (ゆうれいがいしゃ) (yūreigaisha): a phantom company: a paper company, a company that exists in name only
幽霊株 (ゆうれいかぶ) (yūrei kabu): phantom shares, phantom stock: company stock that has not actually been traded, but for which a sale or purchase is fraudulently recorded
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)蜘 (ぐ)蛛 (も) (yūreigumo): daddy longlegs spider
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)人 (じん)口 (こう) (yūrei jinkō): phantom population: population figures that are artificially inflated from fraudulent paperwork
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)船 (せん) (yūreisen): a ghost ship
幽霊茸 (ゆうれいたけ) (yūreitake)
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)の正体見 (しょうたいみ)たり枯 (か)れ尾花 (おばな) (yūrei no shōtai mitari kare obana)
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)の浜風 (はまかぜ) (yūrei no hamakaze)
幽霊花 (ゆうれいばな) (yūreibana)
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)火 (び) (yūreibi)
幽 (ゆう)霊 (れい)文 (も)字 (じ) (yūrei moji): ghost characters, Chinese characters of unknown origin or meaning
幽霊屋敷 (ゆうれいやしき) (yūrei yashiki): a haunted house

2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Cognate with Japanese 幽霊 (yūrei).

幽霊 (hiragana ゆーりー, romaji yūrī)