A malevolent creature or demon in Japanese folklore that eats people's dreams and nightmares.
From Japanese (バク), possibly influenced by the Chinese word for 'tapir.' In Japanese mythology, the tapir-like creature was believed to consume bad dreams.
Japanese children who had nightmares would traditionally call out to the baku to eat their bad dreams, and the name comes from an actual animal (the tapir) with a long snout—so folklore turned a real animal into a dream-eating spirit!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.