See barghest on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "1",
"2": "i",
"3": "I"
},
"expansion": "i",
"name": "yesno"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "inherited"
},
"expansion": "inherited",
"name": "glossary"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm-nor",
"3": "-",
"4": "",
"5": "",
"g": "",
"g2": "",
"g3": "",
"id": "",
"lit": "",
"nocat": "",
"pos": "",
"sc": "",
"sort": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": ""
},
"expansion": "Northern Middle English",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm-nor",
"3": "-",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "inherited from Northern Middle English",
"name": "inh+"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm-nor",
"2": "bargh",
"3": "gast",
"nocap": "1",
"nocat": "1",
"t1": "barrow",
"t2": "ghost"
},
"expansion": "bargh (“barrow”) + gast (“ghost”)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably inherited from Northern Middle English *berghgast, *barghgast, from bergh, bargh (“barrow”) + gast (“ghost”). Alternative hypotheses that first element is burgh (“town”) or bere (“bear”) lack semantic motivation.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "barghests",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "bahgeeast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargas",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargeist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargest",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghaist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargheist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargiss",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barguest",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargus",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargust",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bohghost",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "barghest (plural barghests)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"bar",
"ghest"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Mythology",
"orig": "en:Mythology",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
23,
31
],
[
185,
193
],
[
185,
194
]
],
"ref": "1999, Charles Edwin Price, Mysterious Knoxville: Ghost Stories, Monster Tales, and Bizarre Incidents from the “Gateway to the Smokies”, Johnson City, Tenn.: The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 58:",
"text": "In English folklore, a barghest is a monstrous dog with huge claws and teeth. This creature is said to roam around Yorkshire, and anyone who sees the dog will die soon after. There are barghests reported in Tennessee. On the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, a monstrous black dog is said to roam, howling mournfully. Locally, he's called \"Hound of Hell.\" Again, anyone who sees this creature is certain to suffer imminent death.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
25,
34
],
[
158,
167
]
],
"ref": "2012, Kalayna Price, chapter 20, in Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, New American Library, →ISBN:",
"text": "\"Folklore often portrays barghests as guardians who lead lost travelers home,\" I said, not answering his question in the least, or mentioning that more often barghests were considered portents of death.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form."
],
"id": "en-barghest-en-noun-k3Fu3Wp7",
"links": [
[
"mythology",
"mythology"
],
[
"legendary",
"legendary"
],
[
"monstrous",
"monstrous"
],
[
"black",
"black"
],
[
"dog",
"dog"
],
[
"teeth",
"teeth"
],
[
"claw",
"claw"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(mythology, UK) A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form."
],
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"mysticism",
"mythology",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Mythology",
"orig": "en:Mythology",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "44 56",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "31 69",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "16 84",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "26 74",
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Mythological creatures",
"orig": "en:Mythological creatures",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
54,
62
],
[
374,
382
],
[
522,
530
],
[
661,
669
]
],
"ref": "2016, Alexander L. Kaufman, “‘And Many Oþer Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle”, in Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche, editors, The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson, Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with The Boydell Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, →ISBN, page 61:",
"text": "Yet another possibility is that the headless man is a barghest, sometimes referred to and spelled as 'barguest', 'bahrgeist' or 'boguest'. These are creatures primarily associated with the north of England – Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire. They assume at will the form of a headless man, a headless lady, a white cat, a rabbit, or dog, or a black dog. The barghest is a fiend that is attached to a particular place, more often than not an isolated piece of land, a wooded area, cloughs or wasteland. The barghest is known as a portent of disaster or death for those who see it; it is also said that death may not visit the person who sees the barghest but could kill a family member instead.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit."
],
"id": "en-barghest-en-noun-pqi46qKm",
"links": [
[
"mythology",
"mythology"
],
[
"ghost",
"ghost"
],
[
"wraith",
"wraith"
],
[
"hobgoblin",
"hobgoblin"
],
[
"elf",
"elf"
],
[
"spirit",
"spirit"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(mythology, UK) Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit."
],
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"mysticism",
"mythology",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːˌɡɛst/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-barghest.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/55/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/55/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Troller's Gill",
"Yorkshire Dales"
],
"word": "barghest"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Northern Middle English",
"English terms inherited from Northern Middle English",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"en:Mythological creatures"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "1",
"2": "i",
"3": "I"
},
"expansion": "i",
"name": "yesno"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "inherited"
},
"expansion": "inherited",
"name": "glossary"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm-nor",
"3": "-",
"4": "",
"5": "",
"g": "",
"g2": "",
"g3": "",
"id": "",
"lit": "",
"nocat": "",
"pos": "",
"sc": "",
"sort": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": ""
},
"expansion": "Northern Middle English",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm-nor",
"3": "-",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "inherited from Northern Middle English",
"name": "inh+"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm-nor",
"2": "bargh",
"3": "gast",
"nocap": "1",
"nocat": "1",
"t1": "barrow",
"t2": "ghost"
},
"expansion": "bargh (“barrow”) + gast (“ghost”)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably inherited from Northern Middle English *berghgast, *barghgast, from bergh, bargh (“barrow”) + gast (“ghost”). Alternative hypotheses that first element is burgh (“town”) or bere (“bear”) lack semantic motivation.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "barghests",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "bahgeeast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargas",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargeist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargest",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghaist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghast",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargheist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barghist",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargiss",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "barguest",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargus",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bargust",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "bohghost",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "barghest (plural barghests)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"bar",
"ghest"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Mythology"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
23,
31
],
[
185,
193
],
[
185,
194
]
],
"ref": "1999, Charles Edwin Price, Mysterious Knoxville: Ghost Stories, Monster Tales, and Bizarre Incidents from the “Gateway to the Smokies”, Johnson City, Tenn.: The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 58:",
"text": "In English folklore, a barghest is a monstrous dog with huge claws and teeth. This creature is said to roam around Yorkshire, and anyone who sees the dog will die soon after. There are barghests reported in Tennessee. On the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, a monstrous black dog is said to roam, howling mournfully. Locally, he's called \"Hound of Hell.\" Again, anyone who sees this creature is certain to suffer imminent death.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
25,
34
],
[
158,
167
]
],
"ref": "2012, Kalayna Price, chapter 20, in Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, New American Library, →ISBN:",
"text": "\"Folklore often portrays barghests as guardians who lead lost travelers home,\" I said, not answering his question in the least, or mentioning that more often barghests were considered portents of death.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form."
],
"links": [
[
"mythology",
"mythology"
],
[
"legendary",
"legendary"
],
[
"monstrous",
"monstrous"
],
[
"black",
"black"
],
[
"dog",
"dog"
],
[
"teeth",
"teeth"
],
[
"claw",
"claw"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(mythology, UK) A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form."
],
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"mysticism",
"mythology",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Mythology"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
54,
62
],
[
374,
382
],
[
522,
530
],
[
661,
669
]
],
"ref": "2016, Alexander L. Kaufman, “‘And Many Oþer Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle”, in Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche, editors, The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson, Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with The Boydell Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, →ISBN, page 61:",
"text": "Yet another possibility is that the headless man is a barghest, sometimes referred to and spelled as 'barguest', 'bahrgeist' or 'boguest'. These are creatures primarily associated with the north of England – Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire. They assume at will the form of a headless man, a headless lady, a white cat, a rabbit, or dog, or a black dog. The barghest is a fiend that is attached to a particular place, more often than not an isolated piece of land, a wooded area, cloughs or wasteland. The barghest is known as a portent of disaster or death for those who see it; it is also said that death may not visit the person who sees the barghest but could kill a family member instead.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit."
],
"links": [
[
"mythology",
"mythology"
],
[
"ghost",
"ghost"
],
[
"wraith",
"wraith"
],
[
"hobgoblin",
"hobgoblin"
],
[
"elf",
"elf"
],
[
"spirit",
"spirit"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(mythology, UK) Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit."
],
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"mysticism",
"mythology",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːˌɡɛst/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-barghest.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/55/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/55/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-barghest.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Troller's Gill",
"Yorkshire Dales"
],
"word": "barghest"
}
Download raw JSONL data for barghest meaning in All languages combined (6.2kB)
{
"called_from": "query_wikidata_json",
"msg": "WIKIDATA QUERY failed",
"path": [
"barghest",
"Template:inh+",
"Template:inh",
"#invoke",
"#invoke",
"Lua:Module:etymology/templates:inherited()"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "",
"title": "barghest",
"trace": "<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html lang=\"en\">\n<meta charset=\"utf-8\">\n<title>Wikimedia Error</title>\n<style>\n* { margin: 0; padding: 0; }\nbody { background: #fff; font: 15px/1.6 sans-serif; color: #333; }\n.content { margin: 7% auto 0; padding: 2em 1em 1em; max-width: 640px; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex-wrap: wrap; }\n.footer { clear: both; margin-top: 14%; border-top: 1px solid #e5e5e5; background: #f9f9f9; padding: 2em 0; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center; }\nimg { margin: 0 2em 2em 0; }\na img { border: 0; }\nh1 { margin-top: 1em; font-size: 1.2em; }\n.content-text { flex: 1; }\np { margin: 0.7em 0 1em 0; }\na { color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; }\na:hover { text-decoration: underline; }\ncode { font-family: sans-serif; }\nsummary { font-weight: bold; cursor: pointer; }\ndetails[open] { background: #970302; color: #dfdedd; }\n.text-muted { color: #777; }\n@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {\n a { color: #9e9eff; }\n body { background: transparent; color: #ddd; }\n .footer { border-top: 1px solid #444; background: #060606; }\n #logo { filter: invert(1) hue-rotate(180deg); }\n .text-muted { color: #888; }\n}\n</style>\n<meta name=\"color-scheme\" content=\"light dark\">\n<div class=\"content\" role=\"main\">\n<a href=\"https://www.wikimedia.org\"><img id=\"logo\" src=\"https://www.wikimedia.org/static/images/wmf-logo.png\" srcset=\"https://www.wikimedia.org/static/images/wmf-logo-2x.png 2x\" alt=\"Wikimedia\" width=\"135\" height=\"101\">\n</a>\n<div class=\"content-text\">\n<h1>Error</h1>\n\n<p>Your bot is making too many requests. Please reduce your request rate or contact bot-traffic@wikimedia.org (f263c81)</p>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"footer\"><p>If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below.</p><p class=\"text-muted\"><code>Request served via cp3073 cp3073, Varnish XID 615545973<br>Upstream caches: cp3073 int<br>Error: 429, Your bot is making too many requests. Please reduce your request rate or contact bot-traffic@wikimedia.org (f263c81) at Mon, 07 Sep 2026 19:37:34 GMT<br><details><summary>Sensitive client information</summary>IP address: 91.207.79.37</details></code></p>\n</div>\n</html>\n"
}
{
"called_from": "query_wikidata_json",
"msg": "WIKIDATA QUERY failed",
"path": [
"barghest",
"Template:inh+",
"Template:inh",
"#invoke",
"#invoke",
"Lua:Module:etymology/templates:inherited()"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "",
"title": "barghest",
"trace": "<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html lang=\"en\">\n<meta charset=\"utf-8\">\n<title>Wikimedia Error</title>\n<style>\n* { margin: 0; padding: 0; }\nbody { background: #fff; font: 15px/1.6 sans-serif; color: #333; }\n.content { margin: 7% auto 0; padding: 2em 1em 1em; max-width: 640px; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex-wrap: wrap; }\n.footer { clear: both; margin-top: 14%; border-top: 1px solid #e5e5e5; background: #f9f9f9; padding: 2em 0; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center; }\nimg { margin: 0 2em 2em 0; }\na img { border: 0; }\nh1 { margin-top: 1em; font-size: 1.2em; }\n.content-text { flex: 1; }\np { margin: 0.7em 0 1em 0; }\na { color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; }\na:hover { text-decoration: underline; }\ncode { font-family: sans-serif; }\nsummary { font-weight: bold; cursor: pointer; }\ndetails[open] { background: #970302; color: #dfdedd; }\n.text-muted { color: #777; }\n@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {\n a { color: #9e9eff; }\n body { background: transparent; color: #ddd; }\n .footer { border-top: 1px solid #444; background: #060606; }\n #logo { filter: invert(1) hue-rotate(180deg); }\n .text-muted { color: #888; }\n}\n</style>\n<meta name=\"color-scheme\" content=\"light dark\">\n<div class=\"content\" role=\"main\">\n<a href=\"https://www.wikimedia.org\"><img id=\"logo\" src=\"https://www.wikimedia.org/static/images/wmf-logo.png\" srcset=\"https://www.wikimedia.org/static/images/wmf-logo-2x.png 2x\" alt=\"Wikimedia\" width=\"135\" height=\"101\">\n</a>\n<div class=\"content-text\">\n<h1>Error</h1>\n\n<p>Your bot is making too many requests. Please reduce your request rate or contact bot-traffic@wikimedia.org (f263c81)</p>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"footer\"><p>If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below.</p><p class=\"text-muted\"><code>Request served via cp3073 cp3073, Varnish XID 635126248<br>Upstream caches: cp3073 int<br>Error: 429, Your bot is making too many requests. Please reduce your request rate or contact bot-traffic@wikimedia.org (f263c81) at Mon, 07 Sep 2026 19:38:30 GMT<br><details><summary>Sensitive client information</summary>IP address: 91.207.79.37</details></code></p>\n</div>\n</html>\n"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.