leyak

From Balinese leyak (“black magic; sorcerer”).

leyak (plural leyaks or leyak)

1. A Balinese witch or practitioner of black magic.
   • 1941, Philip Hanson Hiss, Bali, p. 45:

     Meanwhile the leyak has become invisible and the servant is very much relieved, but just then the patih sees it as it is disappearing behind a group of children, who squirm about uneasily.

   • 1990, Fred B. Eiseman, Jr., Bali: Sekala and Niskala, Tuttle Publishing, p. 128:

     A leyak can transform himself, or rather, his spirit, into another form – a monkey, a bird, a ghostly light, a body without a head – the variety is endless.

   • 2000, Tobias Schneebaum, Secret Places, p. 146:

     She was like a Balinese leyak, one of the spirits of humans most often seen in the form of a blue flame that darts from coconut tree to coconut tree, at night.

• Eakly, Kaley, Kealy, Keyla, Lakey, kayle, leaky