Apparently the most ancient name for "soul" is kuei.
The ideograph which represents this is a radical which
goes back to the very invention of Chinese writing. The
etymology and primitive meaning of the term are uncer-
tain. Native lexicographers connect it with kuei meaning
"to return." Kuei would then be the same as the French
term for "ghost," revenant, that is, a spirit that comes
back to its body. Like our word "soul," kuei is limited
to spirits of human beings either living or dead.

Another name for the soul is shên. The sign for this
is composite, and therefore belongs to a later stage of the
written language. This is the generic term for "spirit"
of every sort whether in nature or in man. Its funda-
mental meaning is also obscure. Its phonetic (repre-
sented again by a different sign) means "stretch out."

Out of these two words the compound kuei-shên is
formed which is the most frequent name for spirits of the
dead in the Confucian literature. The reverse compound
shên-kuei is of rare occurrence. Still another word for