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PlainSpell

bane

/beɪn/noun, verb

bane is spelled B-A-N-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bane means “A cause of misery or ruin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bane is banes.

How many letters and syllables are in bane?

Letters4: B-A-N-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.8 times per million words; the 20,629th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bane?

Bane appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bane?

  • US /beɪn/

Bane has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bane.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-bane.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bane

Also written: bone.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bane?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bane from its last stressed vowel (/eɪn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: bean, nabe.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bane

  • banes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • baning participle, present
  • baned participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bane mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A cause of misery or ruin.

    the bane of one’s existence

  2. 2

    archaicChiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.

  3. 3

    Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.

  4. 4

    UKA disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.

  6. 6

    obsoleteDeath; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.

  7. 7

    ScotlandAlternative spelling of bone.

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo physically injure (someone or something); to harm, to hurt.

  2. 2

    archaicTo cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).

  3. 3

    UKTo cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo kill (a person or animal), especially by poison.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bane in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcalamité, cauchemar, drame, fléau (cause of misery or ruin – see also affliction…)
GermanRuin, Verderben (cause of misery or ruin – see also affliction…), ruinieren (to cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially…)
Portuguesedesgraça, desventura, flagelo, maldição, perdição, ruína (cause of misery or ruin – see also affliction…)
Spanishdesgracia, maldición, ruina, perdición, quebranto (cause of misery or ruin – see also affliction…), arruinar (to cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bane come from?

The noun is derived from Middle English bane (“person or thing that destroys life, murderer, slayer; person who destroys the soul; destruction of life, death, doom; poison”), from Old English bana (“person or thing that causes death, murderer”), from Proto-West Germanic *banō, from Proto-Germanic *banô (“killer, murderer, slayer; death, bane”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to slay, kill; to strike”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bane