What is "ghost word"

n. A fictitious or erroneous word, originally meaningless, that has been published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference book, or has been listed as genuine, generally as the result of misinterpretation or a typographical error.

n. a word form that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error

A ghost word is a word published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work, having rarely, if ever, been used in practice, and hitherto having been meaningless (for example "kime" or "abacot" (compare " bycoket")). As a rule a ghost word will have originated from an error, such as a misinterpretation, mispronunciation, misreading, or from typographical or linguistic confusion.

Once authoritatively published, a ghost word occasionally may be copied widely and take a long time to be erased from usage (if it ever does) (e.g. "morse", as described below).