Ichabod

I1C3H4A1B3O1D2
/ˈɪkəbɒd/

proper noun

A male given name.

OriginBiblical Hebrew אִיכָבוֹד →
UncommonScrabble 15
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. archaicA male given name.
interjection
  1. Expressing regret at a loss of former glory or high standards.

    ”Better the tomb of her fathers than the dishonourable couch of the licentious and savage Templar. Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory hath departed from my house!”

    1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
    3 more examples

    Ichabod; is the glory departing from us? Under the sun is nothing baser, by all accounts and evidences, than the system of repression and corruption, of shameless dishonesty and unbelief in anything but human baseness, that we now live under.

    1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets: The present time

    Except for the library, the eastern wing, from the Tower of Flints onwards, was now but a procession of forgotten and desolate relics, an Ichabod of masonry that filed silently along an avenue of dreary pine whose needles hid the sky.

    1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC

    Ichabod, felt Lord Emsworth, and was still in a disturbed state of mind, though gradually becoming soothed by listening to that sweetest of all music, the sound of the Empress restoring her tissues.

    1952, P. G. Wodehouse, Pigs Have Wings

Origin

  1. Biblical Hebrewאִיכָבוֹד
  2. EnglishIchabod

From Biblical Hebrew אִיכָבוֹד (ʾīḵāḇōḏ, literally “no honor”), from אִי (ʾī, “not”) + כָּבוֹד (kāḇōḏ, “honor”); alluding to 1 Samuel 4:21, where Eli’s daughter-in-law names her child Ichabod, saying ‘The glory is departed from Israel.’

More words from Biblical Hebrew

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French I-Kabod
  • I-Kabodgiven name
German Ikabod
  • Ikabodgiven name
Italian Icabod
  • Icabodgiven name
Portuguese Icabô, Icabode
  • Icabôgiven name
  • Icabodegiven name
Spanish Ichâbod
  • Ichâbodgiven name
Swedish I-Kavod
  • I-Kavodgiven name
Cite this entry
APA

Ichabod. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ichabod

MLA

“Ichabod.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ichabod. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Ichabod,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ichabod.

Source: Ichabod on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.