'Likho, liho, lykho (Ukrainian: Лихо, Belarusian: лі́ха, Polish: licho Russian: Лихо) is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in Slavic mythology, a creature with one eye, often depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho) or as an evil male goblin of forests. Rather than being included in the major canon of the Slavic belief system, the Likho is traditionally found in fairy tales.
There are several basic versions of tales about how a person meets with Likho, with different morals of the tale.
Within the framework of superstitions, Likho was supposed to come and eat a person. In particular, this was used to scare small children. In Ukrainian folklore, it is sometimes portrayed as type of a bad spirit that can cling to one's neck.
Likho is not a real proper name, but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Ukrainian and the odd number in Polish (obsolete).[1] Several proverbs utilize this term such as the "Не буди лихо, поки воно тихо" or the Russian "Не буди лихо, пока оно тихо", meaning "Don't wake likho while it is quiet", "let the sleeping dogs lie" and the Polish "Cicho! Licho nie śpi", translated as "Quiet! Evil does not sleep" and "Licho wie", literally "Licho [only] knows", used to mean that a given piece of information is known by no one. In old Russian, the root meant "excessive", "too much", "remaining" and "odd number" (contrasted with chetno in the chetno i likho game)[2] with pejorative connotations, similar to the unlucky 'odd man out'. Compare to Russian lishniy – one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European leikw meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective likhoy can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In Czech, lichý means odd (number), idle, vain. In Polish, lichy means shoddy, poor, flimsy. In Belarusian language, ліхі means bad, evil (like in prayer), odd (side of clothing). In Ukrainian language, it is type of bad luck or incident.