name
Meaning 1
A surname from Irish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
dullahan
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
/ˈduː.ləˌhɑːn/
noun
Meaning 2
A black-clad (usually male) horserider in Irish folklore which carries its severed head like a lantern and may be repelled by gold; when it stops riding (or calls out someone's name), someone will die. (Also called the Gan Ceann, Irish for "[one] without a head".)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Irish
Topics: fantasy, human-sciences, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Alternative letter-case form of dullahan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Irish dulachán, from dubh (“black”) + another word (compare lucharachán (“elf, dwarf”)), possibly originally a term for a dark or sullen person (compare the surname Dullahan) and only subsequently applied to the spirit.