By Ryan Stacy
Gast, geist, or gheest—even as it reportedly went through different variations across European languages through the Middle Ages, the word we've come to know as "ghost" generally referred to one commonly-understood thing: a supernatural spirit, particularly one recognized as that of a person who had died. Then in more modern times, "ghost" began to be added to other words to mean invisible, missing, or faint, as in "ghost students" who failed to show up to class, or unwanted "ghost images" on otherwise clear prints.
It's a different story these days, of course, when "to ghost" someone means to abandon, ignore, or break off contact with them. And thanks to dating apps and the other digital means of communication that stand between us and face-to-face interaction, ghosting has become a more and more common way to head off uncomfortable conversations with partners, bosses, and even family members. The unfortunate popularity of the practice may be why "ghost" was added as a verb to several major dictionaries in recent years.