# bane

> English word · Noun · IPA /beɪn/ · frequency rank #20,563

## Definitions
1. A cause of misery or ruin.
2. Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.
3. Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.
4. A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
5. A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.
6. Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.

## Etymology
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.
cognates
* Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌾𐌰 (banja, “wound”)
* Old Frisian bona (“death; murder”)
* Old Norse bani (Danish bane (“death; murder”), Icelandic bani (“bane, death”), Swedish bane (“death; murder”)), Old Norse ben (“(moral) wound”)
* Old English ben, benn (“mortal injury; wound”)
* Old High German bano (“death”) (Middle High German ban, bane)
* Old Saxon bano (“death; murder”), beni (“mortal injury; wound”)

## Easily confused with
- **be** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-be)
- **bn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bn)
- **bar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bar)
- **bay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bay)
- **ben** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-ben)
- **bye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bye)
- **bat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bat)
- **bin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bin)
- **bee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bee)
- **BON** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bon)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bun)
- **Bas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bas)
- **bao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bao)
- **BCE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bce)
- **Boe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-boe)
- **baz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-baz)
- **bap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bap)
- **BLE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-ble)
- **Bau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bau)
- **bank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bane-vs-bank)

## Common misspellings (4)
`abne`, `banne`, `bbane`, `bnae`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bane