overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

harbinger.

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

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/US
  1. A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.

    harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring
  2. One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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, bury.

verb/ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/US
  1. To announce or precede; to be a harbinger of.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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, bury.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

harbinger has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

harbinger studioharbinger workshello, harbinger

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.