Word.ws English Dictionary

Nazgul

/ˈnæzɡul/

Nazgul noun: an evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black.

Noun (1)

Nazgul (plural Nazgul)

  1. An evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black.
    • The West Hampstead studio flat looks like the Nazgul have just thundered through it […]2007, Glen Duncan, I, Lucifer, page 55
    • The last thing she wanted was for Zach to come storming out of the house like a Nazgul, telling her to get the hell away from his daughter.2011, Kristin Hannah, Night Road, page 282

Noun (2)

Nazgul (plural Nazguls)

  1. (roleplaying games) A type of demonic or undead creature.
    • (On Lost Souls there is a Ringwraith guild; Nazguls are members at levels 26-29.)1994, Chiaroscuro, “Re: ColdMUD, interesting career(class,guild)-systems, and thoughts about mudding”, in rec.games.mud.misc (Usenet)
    • In the Touist^([sic]) quest, there was a polymorph trap on the first level, and one of the non-peaceful buggers polyed into a Nazgul (ugh!).1994, The Nowhere Man, “Re: Only 9 Nazguls? (was: Ascension (long))”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet)

Examples of Nazgul in a sentence

  • AFAIK Moria itself has never had uniques, though some variants do (Morgul has the nine Nazguls, for instance) or artifacts.1999, Jonathan Ellis, “Re: unique version of moria”, in rec.games.roguelike.moria (Usenet):
  • Scrolls of mass genocide, scrolls of teleport, and a kick-ass bow generally are prerequisites for killing Nazguls in Pernband.2001, Pat Gunn, “Re: [Pern] YASD (#$# Nazguls)”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband (Usenet):
  • Soulcrusher established his power in Valhalla itself where he trained the Nazguls and built a guardian to protect his privacy.2000, Fuzzy, “AD: [rom] Dawn of Empires - mud.dawnofempires.com”, in rec.games.mud.misc (Usenet):
  • While poking around on level 20, I came across an object I've never seen before, a Short Bow of the Nazgul (x2) (-7,-7) {cursed}.2002, Matthew Murray, “Short Bow of the Nazgul”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband (Usenet):

Forms of Nazgul

pluralNazgul
alternative formNazgûl
pluralNazguls

Origin of Nazgul

From nazgûl (“ringwraith”) in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional language Black Speech, a compound of nazg (“ring”) and gûl (“wraith; evil spirit”). Tolkien thought it “probable” that the former term nazg was “actually derived from” Irish nasc (“link, bond”), though not borrowed consciously. For the latter term gûl compare ghoul.

Questions about Nazgul

What does Nazgul mean?
Nazgul means an evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black.
How do you use Nazgul in a sentence?
AFAIK Moria itself has never had uniques, though some variants do (Morgul has the nine Nazguls, for instance) or artifacts.
What part of speech is Nazgul?
Nazgul is a noun.
How do you pronounce Nazgul?
Nazgul is pronounced /ˈnæzɡul/ (US).
What is the plural of Nazgul?
The plural of Nazgul is Nazgul.

Words near Nazgul in the dictionary

  1. Nazcans
  2. naze
  3. Nazeing
  4. Nazerini
  5. nazes
  6. Nazgul
  7. Nazguls
  8. Nazgûl
  9. nazi
  10. Nazi bar
  11. Nazi bars

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Nazgul (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)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Nazgul.wav.

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