abracadabra
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
- Magical word used in certain Gnostic writings, relation to Greek Abraxas, a Gnostic deity.
- It may also be a corruption of the Aramaic term עַבְדָא כְּדַ ברָא, avda ked vara; “what was said has been done”; or perhaps, Hebrew עבראכדברא, avra kedavra; “what has said has come to pass.”
- It may also be the combination of three Hebrew words ארבע-אחד-ארבע when it is read from right to left [1].
- The Aramaic is the source of the Avada Kedavra killing curse in the Harry Potter books.
Pronunciation[edit]
Interjection[edit]
abracadabra!
- Used to indicate that a magic trick or other illusion has been performed.
Translations[edit]
used to indicate that a magic trick or other illusion has been performed
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Noun[edit]
abracadabra (uncountable)
- A mystical word or collocation of letters from kabbalism, said to ward off disease or disaster. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][1]
- Complicated technicalities, jargon that one does not understand much if at all.
- I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.
Translations[edit]
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
- Vietnamese: câu thần chú, lời nói khó hiểu
References[edit]
- ^ 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 7:
French[edit]
Interjection[edit]
abracadabra
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
abracadabra m (plural abracadabras)
- An unspecified magical formula.
- (historical) A mystical word from kabbalism.
