From bogey -man .
bogeyman (plural bogeymen )
A menacing , ghost -like monster in children's stories.
( by extension ) Any make-believe threat , especially one used to intimidate or distract .
2013 , Frances Booth, The Distraction Trap :Before the Internet it was television. And, if not that, it was radio, films, or games. All have taken their turn as the popular bogeyman , blighting the minds of the young.
menacing, ghost-like monster in children's stories
Arabic: بُعْبُع m ( buʕbuʕ )
Moroccan Arabic: بوعو m ( būʕʕu ) , بو خنشة m ( bū ḵanša )
Basque: hamalau-zaku
Catalan: home del sac m , papu (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 怪物 (zh) ( guàiwù ) , 魔鬼 (zh) ( móguǐ )
Czech: bubák (cs) m , strašák (cs) m , strašidlo (cs) n
Danish: bussemand (da) c , bøhmand c
Dutch: boeman (nl) m , bietebauw (nl) m
Esperanto: infantimigulo
Estonian: koll
Finnish: mörkö (fi)
French: croque-mitaine (fr) m
Galician: sacaúntos m , coco (gl) m , sacamanteigas m , papón (gl) m
German: Butzemann (de) m
Greek: μπαμπούλας (el) m ( bampoúlas )
Ancient: μορμολυκεῖον n ( mormolukeîon )
Hungarian: krampusz (hu) , mumus (hu)
Italian: uomo nero , babau (it)
Japanese: ブギーマン ( bugīman ) , 小鬼 (ja) ( こおに, ko-oni )
Korean: 꼬마 도깨비 ( kkoma dokkaebi ) , 부기맨 ( bugimaen )
Ladino: bambaruto
Latgalian: buba
Latin: larva f
Latvian: bubulis
Lithuanian: baubas , bubulis
Norman: croque-mitaine m , barbou m
Norwegian: busemann m
Persian: لولو (fa) sg ( lūlū )
Polish: czarny lud m
Portuguese: bicho-papão m , homem do saco m , papa-figos (pt) m
Romanian: baubau (ro) m , omul negru m , gogoriță (ro)
Russian: бу́ка (ru) f ( búka ) , баба́й (ru) m ( babáj ) , страши́лище (ru) n ( strašílišče ) , домово́й (ru) m ( domovój ) ( in Slavic mythology ) , бу́гимен m ( búgimɛn )
Serbo-Croatian: babaroga (sh) f , бабарога f
Spanish: coco (es) , cuco (es) m , cucuy m , sacamantecas m , hombre del saco (es) m ( Latin America )
Tagalog: mumò , mumu ( childish )
Tajik: буҷӣ ( buji )
Turkish: gulyabani (tr) , hortlak (tr) , öcü (tr) , karakoncolos (tr) , umacı (tr)
Vietnamese: ngoáo ộp (vi)