harbinger

C2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/ UK /ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/ See IPA manual

Freq #34802

Meanings

1

noun
A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.

Harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person or thing that... forewarningherald omen precursor premonition prophet sign signal

Word family

Derived forms harbinger-of-springharbingership

Etymology

Originally, a person sent in advance to arrange lodgings. From Middle English herberjour, herbergeour, from Old French herbergeor (French hébergeur), from herbergier (“to set up camp; to shelter; to take shelter”) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns), from Old High German heribergan, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army camp, shelter”). Compare German Herberge, Italian albergo, Dutch herberg, English harbor. More at here, borrow.

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# harbinger

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/
**Frequency rank:** 34802

## Meanings
1. A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.

## Examples
- Harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring.

## Synonyms
- forewarning
- herald
- omen
- precursor
- premonition
- prophet
- sign
- signal

## Derived Forms
- harbinger-of-spring
- harbingership

## Etymology
Originally, a person sent in advance to arrange lodgings. From Middle English herberjour, herbergeour, from Old French herbergeor (French hébergeur), from herbergier (“to set up camp; to shelter; to take shelter”) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns), from Old High German heribergan, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army camp, shelter”). Compare German Herberge, Italian albergo, Dutch herberg, English harbor. More at here, borrow.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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