spooky

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈspuki/ UK /ˈspuːki/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
eerie, frightening, or suggestive of the supernatural

The abandoned house had a spooky silence about it.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · eerie, frightening, or... eerie creepy ghostly scary sinister uncanny frightening

Opposites

reassuring comforting mundane

Word family

Derived forms spookilyspookiness

Related forms spook

Etymology

From spook + -y; spook is from Dutch spook ('ghost, apparition').

spook Dutch

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# spooky

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈspuki
**IPA (UK):** ˈspuːki

## Meanings
1. eerie, frightening, or suggestive of the supernatural

## Examples
- The abandoned house had a spooky silence about it.

## Synonyms
- eerie
- creepy
- ghostly
- scary
- sinister
- uncanny
- frightening

## Antonyms
- reassuring
- comforting
- mundane

## Derived Forms
- spookily
- spookiness

## Related Forms
- spook

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: spook

## Etymology
From spook + -y; spook is from Dutch spook ('ghost, apparition').

## AI Etymology
Spooky comes from spook + -y; spook is from Dutch spook ('ghost, apparition'). The historical chain includes Dutch spook. Older glosses in the chain include "ghost, apparition", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, spooky is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "eerie, frightening, or suggestive of the supernatural". English derivatives include spookily and spookiness; related forms include spook. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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