It's spooky season! Get ready to boost your creepy vocab with Halloween words that convey all the season has to offer. What better way to up the eerie factor than with words that describe the thrills and chills of the season.
Halloween Words A-F
We know you already know a lot of these, but some of these Halloween words could be new. Brush up on the spookiest vocab ever.
All Hallows' Eve (noun) - An old-timey word (that frankly sounds way spookier to us than Halloween) that describes Halloween's origins as the night before All Souls' Day, a religious holiday that remembers those who have died.
apparition (noun) - It's a g-g-g-ghost, Scooby.
autumn (noun) - Pumpkin spice season (arguably the best season), a.k.a. fall, when we celebrate Halloween
banshee (noun) - If you hear a banshee, you'll have a wail of a time. Banshees are just one of many creatures that go bump in the night (or, in this case, they screech in the night). In Irish folklore, hearing the wail of a banshee foretells of the death of a relative.
bat (noun) - Surprisingly adorable flying mammals and notorious creatures of the night that may or may not be shape-shifting vampires
black cat (noun) - Arguably the best color cat; black cats are believed to be witches' familiars.
blood (noun)- Vhat vampires vant to suck. The red elixir of life that runs through your veins.
bobbing for apples (verb) - Something that seems like less of a good idea in a post-pandemic world. It's a traditional Halloween party game in which apples float in a vat of water, and people stick their heads in the water to try and capture an apple in their mouth.
bogeyman (noun) - Something Baby Boomer and GenX kids' parents used to threaten them with; a frightening guy who comes for kids who misbehave
boo (exclamation) - What ghosts and other scary things yell to frighten you
brew (noun) - What witches make in their cauldrons; we'd advise not drinking it if you come across it, because it may contain eye of newt
broom (noun) - How witches get around
cadaver (noun) - A dead body
candy (noun) - The thing that makes our children into tiny beggars on Halloween and parents into secret thieves when they get a craving over the next few days; sweet confections that children trick-or-treat for
candy corn (noun) - The worst (and most controversial) candy on the planet; blech (plus does it REALLY look like corn?)
casket (noun) - Dracula's home; a coffin
cauldron (noun) - A big, black cooking vessel that witches use for their potions
cemetery (noun) - A spooky place where dead bodies are buried
cider (noun) - Nectar of the Gods; juice pressed from apples, pears, or other fruits (with or without alcohol), served warm or cold
cloak (noun) - A vampire's outer garment; he swishes it and turns into a bat (or so we're told)
clown (noun) - The scariest of all Halloween creatures; supposedly a fun and funny person, but we think the hilarity is an act; avoid at all costs if it's carrying a red balloon
cobweb (noun) - An old dusty spider's web and a popular Halloween decoration
coffin (noun) - A box for burying dead bodies
corpse (noun) - A dead body
costume (noun) - The must-have 'fit for all the ghouls on Halloween; traditionally, costumes were used to confuse the Halloween monsters and ghosts. Now, they're just fun.
creepy (adjective) - Frightening or spooky
crypt (noun) - A burial vault
curse (noun) - A hex or spell that brings misfortune; also, something you try not to do in front of your parents or teachers
demon (noun) - A religious creature; one of God's fallen angels that can haunt and possess humans; an evil spirit
devil (noun) - A religious belief, the Prince of Darkness; popular Halloween costume with red horns and a pitchfork; an evil spirit
Día de los Muertos (noun) - Also known as Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated in Mexico on the day after Halloween to honor the dead
Dracula (noun) - THE vampire of all vampires, popularized in Brahm Stoker's Dracula; most likely inspired by Vlad Tepes, a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler, Voivode of Wallachia
eerie (adjective) - Descriptive term that means creepy or spooky
Elsa (noun) - The costume that 90% of little girl trick-or-treaters will show up as on Halloween; main character in Disney's Frozen
familiar (noun) - An animal that serves as a witch's companion; also, something a lot of people tell me I look
fangs (noun) - Bats and vampires have 'em; long, sharp, pointy teeth, all the better to suck your blood
Halloween Terms G-N
Get familiar with ghosts and ghouls with these Halloween words.
ghost (noun) - The spirit of a dead person walking the earth; they're either cool or totally scary, depending on who you ask
ghoul (noun) - A monster that looks vaguely humanlike but that feasts on human flesh; a grave robber
gloomy (adjective) - Dark and depressing
grave (noun) - A place where a body is buried
gravestone (noun) - A grave marker
graveyard (noun) - A cemetery attached to a church
Great Pumpkin (noun) - Halloween's version of Santa Claus, according to Linus from the Peanuts comics
Grim Reaper (noun) - Death; the collector of souls
haunt (verb) - To hang around and rattle chains; to remain in a place after you're dead and mess with humans
haunted (adjective) - A place with at least one ghost (but the ones with more are way more fun)
hayride (noun) - A nightmare for people with hay fever; for everyone else, a fun (if itchy) ride sitting on bales of hay in the back of a truck, wagon, or flatbed; usually done in the fall
hex (noun) - Evil spell
hocus pocus (exclamation) - A witch's magic words (and also the title of a fun witch movie)
horror (noun) - A strong feeling of fear or terror; (adjective) - a terrifying (but popular) genre of movie
jack-o'-lantern (noun) - A pumpkin that won't have the guts to do that again; it's a hollowed-out and carved pumpkin used as a lantern
monster (noun) - any type of thing that goes bump in the night; there are a ton of Halloween monsters, although the most commonly known would be the Frankenstein-style monster popularized in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
mummy (noun) - Not your daddy, unless he was mummified, too; a preserved corpse
Related: Why Do We Say "Trick or Treat?"
Halloween Vocabulary O-Z
From phantoms to zombies, these Halloween terms bring to mind all kinds of scary things that go bump in the night.
October (noun) - The best month of the year; also, the month that ends with Halloween
Ouija board (noun) - A children's game that scares the crap out of people. It's a board with numbers and letters that uses a pointer device (a planchette) to point to letters. Supposedly, it's a way to communicate with spirits.
paranormal (adjective) - Outside of normal experience; supernatural
phantasm (noun) - A figment of imagination (also, the name of a horror movie that scared the crap out of me when I was a kid)
phantom (noun) - A ghost
poltergeist (noun) - A noisy and/or violent spirit
possessed (verb) - The act of a demon taking up residence in a person (like in the greatest spooky movie of all time, The Exorcist)
potion (noun) - Something witches make; probably not delicious
pumpkin (noun) - Fall's most popular flavor; also, an orange fruit popular at Halloween
pumpkin patch (noun) - A field of pumpkins
pumpkin spice (adjective) - The only flavor of latte you're allowed to sip while wearing Lululemon; pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and other warm spices
The Nightmare Before Christmas (noun) - The ultimate Halloween movie, even though "Christmas" is in the title; Tim Burton's creepy animated movie that's become a Halloween must-watch
RIP (acronym) - Acronym for 'rest in peace'
scarecrow (noun) - One of the least scary things you'll find on Halloween, but fortunately, crows don't know that; something that looks vaguely like a person stuck in a field to keep birds and crows away
shadow (noun) - The creepiest part of any place; a place of darkness or a dark image of someone or something cast by blocking out a source of light
skeleton (noun) - A full body's worth of bones
skull (noun) - The head part of a skeleton
spell (noun) - A hex or magic rite a witch casts
specter (noun) - A ghost
spider (noun) - A creepy, web-dwelling, eight-legged creature that haunts the dark corners of my house; an arachnid
spirit (noun) - The etheric (non-physical) part of a human; a ghost
spooky (adjective) - The fun kind of scary
supernatural (adjective) - Unexplainable; paranormal; not explainable by known natural law
superstition (noun) - Belief in the supernatural
tomb (noun) - A grave
tombstone (noun) - A grave marker
Transylvania (noun) - Where vampires originated; a region in Romania
trick-or-treat (noun) - Equal parts begging and threatening; the practice of children dressing in costumes and going out on Halloween to ask for candy or threatening to play tricks on people who don't give it to them; essentially, extortion, but in a fun way
Twilight (noun) - Stephanie Meyer's series of books about sparkly vampires; also, the time of day between dusk and sunset or dawn and sunrise
vampire (noun) - A blood-sucking, immortal being that used to be human
wand (noun) - A witch's stick, used to cast spells
werewolf (noun) - Half human, half wolf; a human transformed into a wolf when there's a full moon
witch (noun) - In Halloween lore, a scary person (usually a woman) who wears all black, rides a broomstick, and casts evil spells on people; in real life, someone who practices the earth-based religion of Wicca
zombie (noun) - An undead creature that munches on the flesh of humans; I hear they're particularly partial to brains
All the Words You'll Need for Halloween
This year, you can get as descriptive about Halloween as you want because you have a whole bunch of words to use. Enjoy your spooky season.
