hungry ghost

English

WOTD – 30 January 2012

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

hungry ghost (plural hungry ghosts)

  1. (Buddhism, Chinese folk religion) A type of supernatural being, condemned to desire more than it can consume; often depicted with large belly and tiny mouth.
    • 2021 August 30, Helen Davidson, Chi-hui Lin, “‘Not open for humans’: Covid changes east Asia’s Ghost Month but free spirits remain”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
      Across Taiwan, households prepared offerings of food, alcohol, candles, flowers, washbowls and towels, in prayer for their ancestors and gods, and to placate the hungry ghosts. The streets filled will smoke as they burned paper money – gold for the gods and silver for the ghosts – in small metal drums.

Synonyms

Translations

See also