dullahan
/ˈduː.ləˌhɑːn/
dullahan noun: a black-clad (usually male) horserider in Irish folklore which carries its severed head like a lantern and may be repelled by gold; when it stops riding (or calls out someone's name), someone will die. (Also called the Gan Ceann, Irish for "[one] without a head".).
Noun (1)
dullahan (plural dullahans)
- A black-clad (usually male) horserider in Irish folklore which carries its severed head like a lantern and may be repelled by gold; when it stops riding (or calls out someone's name), someone will die. (Also called the Gan Ceann, Irish for "[one] without a head".)
- The dullahans always came in a mist. But Devin wasn't afraid of dullahans. If he saw one, he would club it over the head. But then Devin remembered that dullahans didn't have heads. He grasped his stick a little tighter in his hand, […]1990, Elona Malterre, The Last Wolf of Ireland, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 3
- “A dullahan,” both Phelan and Coriel whispered. Coriel looked her square in the eye, “You did remember the gold, right?” ML blushed, “No, I didn't. I was so scared I just started running.” “Then how did you escape?” “My pocket tore on a bush. […] “You're lucky you're not dead anyway. The dullahan...2008, Jessica Borchardt, A Fairy Yarn, →ISBN, page 53
Noun (2) capitalized: Dullahan
Dullahan (plural Dullahans)
- Alternative letter-case form of dullahan.
- “With the Bodach defeated, no one thought to protect Gwen. A Dullahan discovered her and used the necklace to control her. Through her, it learned everything about Arthur's defenses.”2012, Armen Pogharian, Misaligned: The Celtic Connection, SynergEbooks, →ISBN, page 111
- It was never fully clear to Irving whether the Dullahan and the Gan Ceann were the same entity [...]. Most feared of all the Unseelie, the Dullahan is a bringer of dismay and death. The Dullahan is a headless rider, clad in a flowing black cape and usually mounted upon a black horse that spews...2016, Mark Latham, Hunting the Headless Horseman, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, →ISBN, page 47
Proper noun capitalized: Dullahan
Dullahan
- A surname from Irish.
Examples of dullahan in a sentence
- “A dullahan,” both Phelan and Coriel whispered.2008, Jessica Borchardt, A Fairy Yarn, →ISBN, page 53:
- There is no way to bar the road against a dullahan.2014, Tony Locke, Mayo Folk Tales, The History Press, →ISBN:
- But the values of a fairy manifested into physical form in this city—a dullahan.” Celty Sturluson was not a human being.2015, Ryohgo Narita, Durarara, volume 1, Yen Press LLC, →ISBN:
- Because she is a dullahan, her head is not connected to her body—it's held in place by her gear.2017, Kugane Maruyama, Satoshi Oshio, Overlord, volume 4, Yen Press LLC, →ISBN:
Forms of dullahan
| plural | dullahans |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Dullahan |
| alternative form | dullaghan |
| alternative form | Dullaghan |
| plural | Dullahans |
Origin of dullahan
From Irish dulachán, from dubh (“black”) + another word (compare lucharachán (“elf, dwarf”)), possibly originally a term for a dark or sullen person (compare the surname Dullahan) and only subsequently applied to the spirit.
Questions about dullahan
- What does dullahan mean?
- Dullahan means a black-clad (usually male) horserider in Irish folklore which carries its severed head like a lantern and may be repelled by gold; when it stops riding (or calls out someone's name), someone will die. (Also called the Gan Ceann, Irish for "[one] without a head".).
- How do you use dullahan in a sentence?
- “A dullahan,” both Phelan and Coriel whispered.
- What part of speech is dullahan?
- Dullahan can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dullahan?
- Dullahan is pronounced /ˈduː.ləˌhɑːn/.
- What is the plural of dullahan?
- The plural of dullahan is dullahans.
Words near dullahan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dullahan (page history and authors); Dullahan (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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Cite this entry: “dullahan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dullahan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.