Join free

BAN

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

ban¹

  • /ˈbæn/ UK
  • [ˈbæn] UK
  • /ˈban/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [ˈban] British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈban/ Northern England, Scotland
  • [ˈbän] Northern England, Scotland
  • /ˈbɛn/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbɛn] New Zealand
  • /ˈbæːn/
  • [ˈbæːn]
  • [ˈbe̞ːn]
  • /ˈbæn/
  • [ˈbeə̯n] ~ [ˈbɛə̯n]

Rhymes with -æn

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English bannen (“to summon; to banish; to curse”), partly from Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim, call out”), from Proto-West Germanic *bannan; and partly from Old Norse banna (“to prohibit; to curse”), both from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, to order; to summon; to ban; to curse, forbid”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-new-ti ~ bʰh₂-n̥w-énti, innovative nasal-infixed zero-grade athematic present of *bʰeh₂- (“to say”).

Cognate with Dutch bannen (“to ban, exile, discard”), German bannen (“to exile, to exorcise, captivate, excommunicate”), Swedish banna (“to ban, scold”), Vedic Sanskrit भन॑ति (bhánati), Armenian բան (ban) and perhaps Albanian banoj (“to reside, dwell”). See also banal, abandon.

verb bans · banning · banned

  1. transitive To prohibit; to interdict; to proscribe; to forbid or block from participation. Bare feet are banned in this establishment.
  2. obsolete, transitive To summon; to call out.
  3. transitive To anathematize; to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon; to place under a ban.
  4. transitive To curse; to execrate. They will curse and ban[…]even into the deep pit of hell, all that gainsay their appetite.
  5. ambitransitive To curse; to utter curses or maledictions. :“I seldom ban, sir,” said he to the man; “but if you play any of your hound's-foot tricks, and leave puir Berwick before he's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil be wi' me if I do not give your craig a thraw”

noun bans

  1. A prohibition. That sacred fruit, sacred to abstinence, Much more to taste it under ban to touch
  2. A public proclamation or edict; also, a summons by public proclamation, and in early use especially a summons to arms. Bans is common and ordinary amongst the Feudists, and signifies a proclamation, or any publike notice.
  3. The gathering of the (French) king’s vassals for war; the whole body of vassals assembled this way, or liable to be summoned; originally the same as arriere-ban, but distinct since the 16th century, following French usage—see arriere-ban. […] he hath sente abroade to assemble his van and arriere van; wherby, and with the reste of his forces, he prepareth him selfe to enter this countrey; […]
  4. obsolete A curse or anathema. With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected
  5. A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban, such as a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.

ban²

  • /ˈbæn/ UK
  • [ˈbæn] UK
  • /ˈban/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [ˈban] British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈban/ Northern England, Scotland
  • [ˈbän] Northern England, Scotland
  • /ˈbɛn/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbɛn] New Zealand
  • /ˈbæːn/
  • [ˈbæːn]
  • [ˈbe̞ːn]
  • /ˈbæn/
  • [ˈbeə̯n] ~ [ˈbɛə̯n]

Rhymes with -æn

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Romanian ban of uncertain origin, perhaps from Serbo-Croatian bân.

noun bani

  1. A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Romanian leu.
  2. A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Moldovan leu.

ban³

  • /ˈbæn/ UK
  • [ˈbæn] UK
  • /ˈban/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [ˈban] British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈban/ Northern England, Scotland
  • [ˈbän] Northern England, Scotland
  • /ˈbɛn/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbɛn] New Zealand
  • /ˈbæːn/
  • [ˈbæːn]
  • [ˈbe̞ːn]
  • /ˈbæn/
  • [ˈbeə̯n] ~ [ˈbɛə̯n]

Rhymes with -æn

Where it comes from

From Banburismus; coined by Alan Turing.

noun bans

  1. A unit measuring information or entropy based on base-ten logarithms, rather than the base-two logarithms that define the bit.

ban⁴

  • /ˈbæn/ UK
  • [ˈbæn] UK
  • /ˈban/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [ˈban] British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈban/ Northern England, Scotland
  • [ˈbän] Northern England, Scotland
  • /ˈbɛn/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbɛn] New Zealand
  • /ˈbæːn/
  • [ˈbæːn]
  • [ˈbe̞ːn]
  • /ˈbæn/
  • [ˈbeə̯n] ~ [ˈbɛə̯n]

Rhymes with -æn

Where it comes from

From South Slavic (compare Serbo-Croatian bȃn), from Proto-Slavic *banъ; see there for more.

noun bans

  1. A title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.

BAN⁵

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of British Approved Name.British Approved Name

Ban⁶

Where it comes from

* As a Hungarian surname, from Bán.

* As a Hungarian and Serbo-Croatian surname, from bán (“governor”), probably related to Avar баян (bajan, “rich man”).

* As a Slovene, reduced from Urban.

* As a German surname, spelling variant of Bann.

* As a Japanese surname, from 坂 (Ban).

* As a Korean surname, spelling variant of Pan.

* As a Chinese surname, from 班 (Bān).

proper noun Bans

  1. A surname.

Talk about this word