bizen

/ˈbaɪzən/

Etymology

From Middle English bysen, partly from Old English bȳsen (“example, pattern, model, similitude, parable, parallel, rule, command, precept”), and partly from Old Norse býsn (“a wonder, a portentous thing”), both from Proto-Germanic *būsniz (“command, precept”), from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to ask, beg”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, perceive fully”).

Why this word is great

BIZEN — [Noun] A monstrous or portentous thing serving as a warning or an example to be avoided. From Middle English bysen, partly from Old English bȳsen ("example, pattern, model") and partly from Old Norse býsn ("a wonder, a portentous thing"), both from Proto-Germanic *būsniz ("command, precept"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- ("to be awake, perceive fully"). Unlike "monstrosity" (which revels in grotesquery) or "spectacle" (which may dazzle without consequence), a bizen is a lesson carved in flesh or fire. It is the hanged man swaying at the crossroads, the charred husk of a heretic’s pyre, or the withered hand of a thief nailed above the city gates—a deliberate ruin left to teach the living what becomes of those who stray. Some signs are written not in ink, but in bone and ash.

noun

Something monstrous or portentous; a shocking sight; sorry spectacle; disgraceful thing.“She's a shem and a bizen to all the heale town.”
Something serving as a warning or an example to be avoided.