spirit of a dead person, wandering spirits, ghosts.
The Sanskrit word usually translated as hungry ghost, one of the six states of existence.
(Sanskrit) Hungry spirit, a non-human being who experiences intense suffering of hunger, thirst, heat and cold.
(Skt.): Hungry ghost. A being obsessed by ATTACHMENT, living in the preta-realm within DESIRE REALM, mainly suffering from lack of food, drink and shelter.
Hungry ghost, or spirit. The preta realm is one of the three lower realms of cyclic existence.
Preta (Sanskrit) or Peta (PÄli), Tibetan yi.dvags, is the name for a type of supernatural being described in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain texts that undergoes more than human suffering, particularly an extreme degree of hunger and thirst.