bane

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) A cause of misery or ruin.
2. (archaic, countable) Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.
3. (poetic, uncountable) Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.
4. (UK, dialectal, uncountable) A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
5. (countable, obsolete) A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.
6. (obsolete, uncountable) Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.

Verb

1. (archaic, transitive) To physically injure (someone or something); to harm, to hurt.
2. (archaic, figuratively, transitive) To cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).
3. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).
4. (obsolete, transitive) To kill (a person or animal), especially by poison.

Opposite of

boon

Synonyms

poison

curse

slayer

toxin

nuisance

venom

nemesis

toxic substance

drag

scourge

hardship

imprecation

killer

malediction

parliament

perdition

plague

ruin

ruination

stymie

stymy

trouble

vexation

virus

woe

wrack

hard time

tsuris

death

💀

pain

annoyance

conjury

arduousness

arsenic

bind

botheration

bugaboo

calamity

destruction

difficulty

hardness

Translations

δηλητήριο

Ruin

desgracia

Verderben

desgraça

όλεθρος

συμφορά

ruína

envenenar

flagello

verderf

poison

rovina

vergif

ruina

Pronounced as (IPA)

/beɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bane

Inherited from Old English: bana

Cognate with Old High German: bano

Cognate with Icelandic: bani

Inherited from Middle English: ban

Inherited from Old English: bān

In summary

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”)