Definition of BANE

bane

Meanings

Plural: bane, baned, banes

Noun

  • something causing misery or death
    • "the bane of my life"
  • A cause of misery or ruin.
  • Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.
  • Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.
  • A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
  • A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.
  • Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.
  • Alternative spelling of bone.

Verb

  • To physically injure (someone or something); to harm, to hurt.
  • To cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).
  • To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).
  • To kill (a person or animal), especially by poison.

Origin / Etymology

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”)

Antonyms

boon

Scrabble Score: 6

bane is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
bane is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bane is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

bane is a valid Words With Friends word