bane

UK: /ˈbeɪn/ US: /beɪn/ ,(bān)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

bane /beɪn/   n. [countable* usually singular]

1. a person or thing that ruins:
   Gambling was the bane of his life.
2. a poison (used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants): wolfsbane;
   henbane.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

bane  (bān), n. 

1. a person or thing that ruins or spoils:
   Gambling was the bane of his existence.
2. a deadly poison (often used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants):
   wolfsbane; henbane.
3. death;
   destruction;
   ruin.
4. [Obs.] that which causes death or destroys life:
   entrapped and drowned beneath the watery bane.

• bef. 1000; Middle English; Old English bana slayer; cognate with Old Norse bani death, murderer, Old Frisian bona murder, Old Saxon bano murderer, Old High German bano slayer, bana death; akin to Old English benn, Gothic banja wound

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

bane / beɪn/ noun

1. a person or thing that causes misery or distress (esp in the phrase bane of one's life)
2. something that causes death or destruction
3. a fatal poison
4. (in combination): ratsbane
5. ruin or distress

Etymology: Old English bana; related to Old Norse bani death, Old High German bano destruction, death

bane / ben beɪn/ noun

1. a Scots word for bone