banshee
noun /ˈbænʃiː/, /bænˈʃiː/
/ˈbænʃiː/, /bænˈʃiː/
- (in Irish stories) a female spirit who makes a long sad noise as a warning to people that somebody in their family is going to die soonOxford Collocations DictionaryBanshee is used before these nouns:
- wail
Word Originlate 17th cent.: from Irish bean sídhe, from Old Irish ben síde ‘woman of the fairies’.