Word.ws English Dictionary

Mahound

/məˈhuːnd/

Mahound proper noun: muhammad, believed by medieval Europeans to be a demon or god that Muslims worshipped.

Proper noun

Mahound

  1. (archaic) Muhammad, believed by medieval Europeans to be a demon or god that Muslims worshipped.
    • But, when he to himselfe returnd againe, / All full of rage he gan to curse and sweare, / And vow by Mahoune that he should be slaine.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • For nations tvvaine inhabite there and dvvell / Of ſundry faith, together in that tovvne [Jerusalem], / The leſſer part on Chriſt beleeued vvell, / On Termagant the more, and on Mahovvne.1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The First Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold]...
  2. (Ireland, Scotland, archaic) The Devil.
    • And there were vessels that are wrought by magic of Mahound out of seasand and the air by a warlock with his breath that he blares into them like to bubbles.1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
  3. (obsolete) A generic pagan god or idol believed by medieval Europeans to be worshipped by various villains such as Herod I.

Forms of Mahound

alternative formMahoun
alternative formMahoune

Origin of Mahound

From Middle English Mahown, from Anglo-Norman Mahun, Old French Mahum, Mahom, shortened from Mahomed (“Muhammad”) (see Muhammad for more). Compare mammet.

Questions about Mahound

What does Mahound mean?
Mahound means muhammad, believed by medieval Europeans to be a demon or god that Muslims worshipped.
What part of speech is Mahound?
Mahound is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Mahound?
Mahound is pronounced /məˈhuːnd/ (UK).

Words near Mahound in the dictionary

  1. Mahori
  2. Mahoris
  3. mahorka
  4. Mahoumed
  5. Mahoumet
  6. Mahound
  7. mahout
  8. mahouted
  9. mahouting
  10. mahouts
  11. Mahovos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Mahound (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Eleanorrrrrrrrrr-Mahound.wav.

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