A sprite is a supernatural legendary creature. They are often depicted as fairy, ghost and/or elf-like creatures. The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, tree spirits, elves, fairies, pixies, gnomes, Japanese Yokai, the Spanish and Latin-American duende and various Slavic fairies has been common in many parts of the world.
And to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as "neo-druidism" and Ásatrú. The belief in spiritual beings, particularly ghosts, is almost universal to human culture.
In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air.