Word.ws English Dictionary

banshee

/bænˈʃiː/

banshee noun: a female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.

Noun

banshee (plural banshees)

  1. (Ireland, Scotland) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
    • Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, / The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream […].1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.VII
  2. (derogatory) A noisy or ill-tempered woman.
    • Where's this old banshee that runs the place?1936, John Thomas McIntyre, Steps Going Down, page 15

banshee meaning in Tamil and Arabic

banshee in Tamil

ஒப்பாரி செய்து அழும் ஆவி, இடாகினி

banshee in Arabic

in Irish folklore, a female spirit
بَانْشِي bānšī

Forms of banshee

pluralbanshees
alternative form (archaic)banshie
alternative form (obsolete)benshee

Plural of banshee: banshees

Origin of banshee

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

Words formed from banshee

Words that rhyme with banshee

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about banshee

What does banshee mean?
Banshee means a female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
What is banshee in Tamil?
Banshee in Tamil is ஒப்பாரி செய்து அழும் ஆவி, இடாகினி. See Banshee meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is banshee?
Banshee is a noun.
How do you pronounce banshee?
Banshee is pronounced /bænˈʃiː/.
What is the plural of banshee?
The plural of banshee is banshees.

Words near banshee in the dictionary

  1. Bansayan
  2. bansela
  3. banselas
  4. Bansha
  5. banshay
  6. banshee
  7. banshee-like
  8. bansheelike
  9. banshees
  10. banshie
  11. banshies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: banshee (page history and authors); banshee (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-banshee.ogg.

Cite this entry: “banshee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/banshee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.