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Banshee

Supernatural
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A wailing spirit in Irish tradition whose cry foretells a death. It is often associated with mourning and ancestral warning.

Detailed Definition
The banshee is a female spirit from Irish folklore, recognized by her piercing keening before a death in a family. In poetry, her cry can function as an omen that arrives before language can explain it. Writers may invoke the banshee to connect private grief with inherited history, especially through images of wind, hair, night roads, and voices heard beyond the house. Her lament gives supernatural form to anticipatory sorrow.
Example
Example in poetry:
A banshee’s cry can serve as an omen in a poem: “Beyond the bog, the banshee keened before the telegram arrived.”; In Irish folklore-inspired verse, the banshee may mourn a family line rather than attack it, giving her a tragic and ceremonial role.; A poet can compare a wind siren to a banshee to transform an ordinary sound into a warning: “The factory whistle rose like a banshee over town.”; The banshee can embody inherited sorrow when her wail echoes the speaker’s fear of repeating ancestral losses.
Additional Notes
The banshee’s cry is often more important than her appearance. Its sound can create ominous atmosphere, connect a family to ancestry, or foreshadow loss without stating it directly.
Other Meanings of “Banshee”
Also Known As
Bean Sí Bean Sidhe Banshie
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