Banish

How to spell banish

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce banish

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does banish mean?

1. verbTo send someone away from a place as a punishment, or to drive away something unwanted.

Banish in a sentence

• The new policy aims to banish smoking from all company offices.

• A strong cup of coffee can banish the morning fog from your head.

Where does banish come from?

Language of origin: French

Banish came into English in the 1300s from the Old French verb banir, whose lengthened stem baniss- gave English the -ish ending seen in many borrowed verbs. The Old French word itself grew from a Frankish root related to bannan, meaning 'to proclaim under penalty' or 'to summon by public order', the same Germanic source that gives us the modern word 'ban'. The early sense was strongly legal: to banish someone was to issue a formal public proclamation driving them out of a territory, often a court or a country. Over time the meaning softened into the broader idea of sending anything away or getting rid of it, as in banishing doubts or banishing a stain. The shared ancestry with 'ban' is a useful spelling anchor, since banish is essentially 'ban' carrying that French -ish tail, which keeps the single n and the -ish rather than a tempting -nnish.

How the word is built

• ban- (to proclaim, outlaw)
• -ish (verb-forming suffix from Old French -iss-)