Standard Lemma guide

soucouyant

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

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  • /suːkuːˈjɑ̃/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A night witch who sucks people's blood, sheds her skin, and can transform into a fireball and fly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Caribbean

Topics: arts, folklore, history, human-sciences, literature, media, publishing, sciences

Examples

  • 1986, Kenneth Ramchand, “Wayne Vincent Brown”, in Daryl Cumber Dance (ed.), Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 90, We can notice, for example, that “Vampire” combines the folkloric soucouyant (blood-sucking old woman in the shape of a ball of fire), a science fiction creature (“clammy, from its bed of hairs / And thirsty” [p. 24]), the moon again (Brown’s poems are obsessed by the moon); ...
  • 2002, David E. Jones, Evil in Our Midst: A Chilling Glimpse of the World's Most Feared and Frightening Demons, Square One Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 133, The Soucouyant is an evil fire, a kind of witch, that robes itself entirely in the skin of an old woman to hide its true identity from neighbors.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From West Indies Creole.