bane
pronunciation
How to pronounce bane in British English:
UK [beɪn]
How to pronounce bane in American English:
US [ben]
-
- Noun:
- something causes misery or death
Word Origin
- bane (n.)
- Old English bana "killer, slayer, murderer; the devil," from Proto-Germanic *banon, cognate with *banja- "wound" (cognates: Old Frisian bona "murderer," Old Norse bani, Old High German bana "murder," Old English benn "wound," Gothic banja "stroke, wound"), from PIE root *gwhen- "to strike, kill, wound" (cognates: Avestan banta "ill"). Modern sense of "that which causes ruin or woe" is from 1570s.
Example
- 1. North china is better known for drought than flooding , long the bane of south china .
- 2. Tribalism , plainly , was still the bane of kenyan politics .
- 3. Inflation expectations , long a bane of the uk , now allow the central bank to be more aggressive .
- 4. Its labyrinthine bureaucracy is the bane of the smallest of private businesses .
- 5. Though moles are the bane of many lawn owners , they make a significant positive contribution to the health of the landscape .