harbinger
/ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.91 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
noun
One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring"
- "Make all our Trumpets ſpeak, giue thẽ all breath / Thoſe clamorous Harbingers of Blood, & Death"
- "I knew by these harbingers who were coming."
- "It’s to realize that Moon Frye, by cheerfully surveilling her own life, and those first Real Worlders, by agreeing to the constant presence of producers and cameras, were the harbingers of today’s culture, in which self-image is shaped in the expectation of a lens and personhood collates with brand identity."
- "outward decency […] is the Harbinger to provide the lodging for inward holinesse"
- "It was harbingered also by the terrible comet of January, which appeared in a cadent and obscure house, denoting sickness and death; […]"
Etymology
Originally, a person sent in advance to arrange lodgings. From Middle English herberjour, herbergeour, from Old French herbergeor (French hébergeur), from herbergier (“to set up camp; to shelter; to take shelter”) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns), from Old High German heribergan, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army camp, shelter”). Compare German Herberge, Italian albergo, Dutch herberg, English harbor. More at here, bury.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/
- British English: /ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/