Spirits

How to spell spirits

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce spirits

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spirits mean?

1. nounA person's mood, morale, or emotional state.
2. nounStrong distilled alcoholic drinks such as whisky, gin, or vodka.
3. nounSupernatural beings such as souls, ghosts, or other immaterial entities.

Spirits in a sentence

• The good news lifted everyone's spirits in the office.

• The duty-free shop sells wine, beer, and spirits at lower prices.

• The old legend claims that restless spirits wander the abbey at night.

• Her spirits were low after the long delay at the airport.

• He keeps the spirits on a high shelf away from the children.

• The festival honours the spirits of departed ancestors.

Where does spirits come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin spiritus, which literally meant 'breath' or 'breathing', formed from the verb spirare, meaning 'to breathe'. Because breath was felt to be the very sign of life, the Romans extended spiritus to mean the animating force, the soul, and even courage or vigour. English took the word in through Old French during the 1200s and 1300s, at first in religious senses tied to the soul and to holy beings. Over the centuries it branched out: by the late Middle Ages alchemists used it for volatile distilled essences, which is how strong distilled drinks came to be called spirits, and the sense of mood or morale grew from the old idea of the inner animating force. The same spirare root still breathes inside words such as inspire, respire, and perspire, all of which trace back to breathing, and remembering that single i after the p (spir-, not 'sper-') is the spelling clue.

How the word is built

• spirit (from Latin spiritus: breath, life)
• -s (plural/inflectional suffix)