The bean-nighe (Scottish Gaelic for "washerwoman" or "laundress"; Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [pɛˈɲi.ə]) is a female spirit in Scottish folklore, regarded as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. She is a type of ban-sìth (in Irish, bean sídhe, anglicized as "banshee") that haunts desolate streams and washes the clothing of those about to die. Les Lavandières is the French word under which these "night washerwomen" are perhaps best known. She is also called nigheag, “the little washer,” nigheag na h-ath, “little washer of the ford,” or nigheag bheag a bhroin, “little washer of the sorrow.”