phantom
n. countablen. something that you think you see or feel, but it is not actually there. It can be a ghost or a feeling in a part of the body that was removed.
n. an apparition or something that exists only in the mind; in a medical context, refers to a sensation perceived in a limb that is no longer present.
He felt a phantom itch in his missing arm.
The patient reported experiencing phantom pain in his left leg months after the surgery was completed.
The neurologist explained that phantom sensations occur when the brain continues to receive signals from nerves that once served the amputated limb, creating a vivid but false perception.
Inherited from Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “I make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.
Often used as a modifier before another noun, such as 'phantom limb' or 'phantom pain'.