幽霊 – How to say Ghost in Japanese

There are many different words for ghost in Japanese. There are different types of ghosts, and depending on what you are trying to express there is a choice between different words you can choose from. Here is how to talk about ghosts in Japanese.

Words for Ghost in Japanese

There are several words for ghost in Japanese depending on the context and what you are trying to express. There is a lot of overlap between the meanings of the words and not everyone is going to mean exactly the same thing when they talk about ghosts. Below is a list of the main words used when talking about ghosts.

• 霊れい
• 幽霊ゆうれい
• 亡霊ぼうれい
• 心霊しんれい
• お化ばけ

霊

First, we have 霊. This is a Kanji character which can mean spirit, ghost, mind, psyche, or even something supernatural when it is used in different words. But, when people say 霊 as one word by itself it usually means ghost.

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So, 霊 is the broadest and general word you can use for ghost in Japanese. Most of the other words for ghosts will have this character in them.

幽霊

幽霊 is the most common word for ghost in Japanese. It basically means the same thing as 霊. The difference though is 幽霊 is more restricted to what most people would consider a ghost. That being some entity existing outside of a body that you can see.

霊 on the other hand could be an unseeable, presence not necessarily held down to the restrictions of space and time. So, 幽霊 would be closer to the English word ghost which 霊 would be closer to the more general word spirit. The Kanji 幽 also means ghost but actually also means something blurry, hazy, dark, or just hard to see. Hence, 幽霊 being some foggy-looking entity or ghost.

亡霊

亡霊 is a less common word which is similar to 幽霊. It is made of two characters 亡 which means death, or something that does not exist, and 霊, which we already know. Just from the meaning of the kanji, we can speculate on its meaning. 亡霊 has more of a sense of the spirit of someone who has died.

The difference between 亡霊 and 幽霊 can be a bit subjective, but there is more of a sense of some malicious intent from a 亡霊. For example, someone’s spirit trying to haunt or kill some living person. 幽霊 may mean some malicious spirit or just some entity floating around minding its own business.

Also, 亡霊 can also be used metaphorically when referring to something from the past that no longer exists.

心霊

心霊 is a word that does not directly refer to ghosts but is said when talking about them. Basically, 心霊 refers to supernatural or paranormal phenomena. But, today often in popular culture 心霊 is used to refer to ghosts.

心霊写真しゃしん – pictures with ghosts in them
心霊現象げんしょう – paranormal phenomena

お化け

Finally, we have お化け. This word can actually mean ghost or monster.

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But more often it means ghost. More specifically if you say お化け then this word would be closest to the cartoonlike, white creatures that fly around in Super Mario World, or which are popular around Halloween.

Reference from Weblio (Japanese)

• 霊
• 幽霊
• 亡霊
• 心霊
• お化け