mormo means A bugbear or invented monster. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
mormo is pronounced /ˈmɔː(ɹ)məʊ/.
Why “mormo” is a great word
MORMO — [Noun] A bugbear or invented monster, especially one invoked to frighten children. From Ancient Greek Μορμώ (Mormṓ, “a hideful she-monster, a bugbear”). Unlike a "bugbear"—a general term for any object of dread—or a "lamia"—a specific child-devouring demon of myth—a mormo is the spectral, female-tinged shape given to pure, instructional terror. It is the rustle in the dark corner given form, the shadow on the wall that outgrows its source, the specific creak on the stair that follows a disobedient hour—the nameless terror given a name, so that the ancient, pragmatic fiction of fear might be contained.
noun
- A bugbear or invented monster.“Thus the Atheists, who derive the origin of religion from fear, first put an affrighful vizard upon the Deity, and then conclude it to be but a mormo or bugbear, the creature of fear and fancy.”