bane
/beɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.26 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "the bane of one’s existence"
- "Money, thou bane of bliſſe, & ſourſe of vvo, / VVhence com'ſt thou, that thou art ſo freſh and fine? / I knovv thy parentage is baſe and lovv: / Man found thee poore and dirtie in a mine."
- "This is the great bane and ſcandal of the Church, that ſuch Livings as more immediately belong to it ſhould be the vvorſt ſupplyed, […]"
- "All that I apprehend is, that dear Numps will be angry I have published these lines [of his poem]; not that he has any reason [to] be ashamed of them, but for fear of those rogues, the bane to all excellent performances, the imitators."
- "She, who had been the bane of his life, blighting his hope, and awarding him, for love and domestic happiness, long mourning and cheerless solitude, he treated with the respect a good son might offer a kind mother."
- "At Barking, previously the bane of L.T.S. operating staff, the new works have now simplified the working of traffic from four converging routes in the area."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *banô Proto-West Germanic *banō Old English bana Middle English bane English bane The noun is derived from Middle English bane (“person or thing that destroys life, murderer, slayer; person who destroys the soul; destruction of life, death, doom; poison”), from Old English bana (“person or thing that causes death, murderer”), from Proto-West Germanic *banō, from Proto-Germanic *banô (“killer, murderer, slayer; death, bane”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to slay, kill; to strike”). The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌾𐌰 (banja, “wound”) * Old Frisian bona (“death; murder”) * Old Norse bani (Danish bane (“death; murder”), Icelandic bani (“bane, death”), Swedish bane (“death; murder”)), Old Norse ben (“(moral) wound”) * Old English ben, benn (“mortal injury; wound”) * Old High German bano (“death”) (Middle High German ban, bane) * Old Saxon bano (“death; murder”), beni (“mortal injury; wound”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /beɪn/
- British English: /beɪn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
banes (plural)
banes (present, singular)
baning (participle, present)
baned (participle, past)
baned (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
baned (first person, past)
banest (archaic, present)
baned (past, second person)
banedst (archaic, past)
baneth (archaic, present)
Derived Forms
Phrases
Austrian leopard's bane
bollan bane
common dogbane
fly-trap dogbane
spreading dogbane
counter-bane
dog bane
dogs-bane