banshee

See also: Banshee

English

Alternative forms

• banshie (dated)
• benshee (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bænˈʃiː/, /ˈbænʃiː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

banshee (plural banshees)

1. (Scotland, Ireland, folklore) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
   • 1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.VII:

     Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, / The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream […] .

2. (derogatory) A noisy or ill-tempered woman.
   • 1936, John Thomas McIntyre, Steps Going Down, page 15:

     Where's this old banshee that runs the place?

Usage notes

• A banshee was originally merely a fairy woman who sang a caoineadh (lament) for recently-deceased members of certain families. Translations of Irish works into English made a distinction between the banshee and other fairy folk that the original language and original stories do not seem to have, but from which sprung the current image of the banshee.

Derived terms

• bansheelike

 

Descendants

Descendants

• → Arabic: بَانْشِي (bānšī)
• → Catalan: banshee
• → Dutch: banshee
• → Esperanto: banŝio
• → Finnish: banshee
• → French: banshee, banshie
• → German: Banshee
• → Japanese: バンシー (banshī)
• → Korean: 반시 (bansi)
• → Northern Kurdish: banşî
• → Portuguese: banshee
• → Russian: ба́нши (bánši), банши́ (banší), ба́ньши (bánʹši), баньши́ (banʹší)
• → Spanish: banshee

Translations

in Irish folklore, a female spirit

• Arabic: بَانْشِي f (bānšī)
• Armenian: բանշի (banši)
• Catalan: banshee f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (no exact term exists) 報喪女妖／报丧女妖 (zh) (bàosāng nǚyāo), 喪門神／丧门神 (zh) (sàngménshén) ("messenger of death"), 喪門星／丧门星 (zh) (sàngménxīng) ("messenger of death")

• Danish: bansheen
• Dutch: banshee (nl) f
• Esperanto: banŝio
• Finnish: banshee (fi)
• French: banshee (fr) f, banshie (fr) f
• German: Banshee (de) f
• Hungarian: sikítószellem
• Irish: bean sí f
• Japanese: バンシー (banshī)
• Korean: 반시 (ko) (bansi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: banşî f

• Manx: ben shee f
• Old Irish: ben síde f, baintsíde f
• Polish: szyszymora f
• Portuguese: banshee f
• Russian: ба́нши (ru) f (bánši), банши́ (ru) f (banší), ба́ньши (ru) f (bánʹši), баньши́ (ru) f (banʹší)
• Scots: banshee
• Scottish Gaelic: bean-shìdh f
• Spanish: banshee f, La Llorona (es) f (slang)
• Ukrainian: банші f (banši)
• Welsh: cyhyraeth f

See also

• sidhe

References

• Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “BANSHEE, sb..”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 158.

Anagrams

• has-been, shabeen, shebean

Portuguese

Noun

banshee f (plural banshees)

1. (Irish mythology) banshee (a female spirit who warns of impending death)

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic bean-shìdh or Irish ben síde.

Noun

banshee

1. banshee

References

• “banshee, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 12 June 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.