witch

English

Etymology 1

Wikipedia

From Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“sorceress, witch”) and wicca (“wizard, sorcerer, warlock”), from Proto-Germanic *wikjô (“necromancer, waker of the dead”) (compare West Frisian wikke (“witch”), Low German wikken, wicken (“to use witchcraft”), Old High German wīhan (“to consecrate”), Old English wiġle (“divination”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weik- 'to choose, sacrifice, conjure'; akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viekas (“life-force”), Sanskrit  (vinákti, “to sift, separate out”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭch, IPA: /wɪtʃ/, X-SAMPA: /wItS/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
• Homophone: which (in accents with the wine-whine merger), wich, wych

Noun

witch (plural witches)

1. (archaic or dialectal) A man who practises witchcraft.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.8:

     And som of hem lough [Merlin] to scorne, as kyng Lot, and mo other called hym a wytche.

2. A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft.
3. (derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.

   I hate that old witch.

4. (Wicca) A Wiccan.

Synonyms

• Female magic user: wizardess, sorceress
• An ugly or unpleasant woman:

  See Wikisaurus:old woman, Wikisaurus:ugly person

Derived terms

terms derived from witch

bewitch cold as a witch's tit man-witch nonwitch witch ball witchcraft witch doctor witches' brew

witches' knickers witches' Sabbath witchfinder witch grass witch hazel witch-hunt witching hour witchy

Translations

person who uses magic

• Afrikaans: heks (af)
• Albanian: shtrigë (sq), magjistare (sq)
• Ancient Greek: φαρμακίς (pharmakis) f
• Arabic: ساحرة (ar) (saaHira) f
• Armenian: վհուկ (hy) (vhuk) 
• Asturian: bruxa (ast)
• Azeri: ifritə (az)
• Basque: sorgin (eu), belagile (eu) (Zuberoan/Souletin dialect)
• Breton: sorserez (br)
• Catalan: bruixa (ca) f
• Chamicuro: shikechpalo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巫婆 (cmn) (wūpó), 魔女 (cmn) (mónǚ), 女巫 (cmn) (nǚwū)

• Corsican: strega (co), sdreia (co), maga (co), moca (co)
• Czech: čarodějnice (cs) f
• Danish: heks (da) c
• Dutch: heks (nl) f, kol (nl) f
• Esperanto: sorĉistino (eo)
• Estonian: nõid (et)
• Finnish: noita (fi)
• French: sorcière (fr) f
• Georgian: გრძნეული (ka) (grdzneuli) , ჯადოქარი (ka) (ǰadok'ari) 
• German: Hexe (de) f, Hexer (de) m
• Greek: μάγισσα (el) (mágissa) f 
• Gujarati: વિચ (gu), ચૂડેલ (gu)
• Haitian Creole: sòsyè
• Hebrew: מכשפה (he) f
• Hindi: चुड़ैल (hi) f
• Hungarian: boszorka (hu), boszorkány (hu)
• Icelandic: norn (is) f
• Irish: cailleach (ga) f
• Italian: strega (it) f, fattucchiera (it) f
• Japanese: 魔女 (ja) (まじょ majo)
• Kannada: ಮಾಟಗಾತಿ (kn), ಮಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಸ್ತ್ರೀ (kn), ಮಾಯಗಾತಿ (kn)
• Karachay-Balkar: обур
• Kazakh: мыстан (kk) (mıstan) 
• Korean: 무당 (ko) (mudang) (巫堂 (ko))
• Latin: malefica (la), venefica (la), fascinans (la), fascinatrix (la), saga (la), maga (la), striga (la) f
• Latvian: ragana (lv)

• Limburgish: heks (li) f
• Lithuanian: ragana (lt)
• Low German: Hex (nds)
• Lower Sorbian: chódota
• Luxembourgish: Hex (lb) f
• Macedonian: вештерка (mk) (véšterka) f
• Malayalam: മന്ത്രവാദം (ml)
• Maltese: sahhara (mt)
• Manx: ben obbee (gv), buitçh (gv), caillagh (gv)
• Norwegian: heks (no) f, heksa (no) f
• Occitan: masca (oc) f, bruèissa (oc) f, fachilhièra (oc) f
• Old English: hægtesse (ang) f, wiċċa (ang) m, wiċċe (ang) f
• Persian: ساحره (fa) (sahareh)
• Polish: czarownica (pl) f, wiedźma (pl) f
• Portuguese: bruxa (pt) f, bruxo (pt) m
• Romanian: vrăjitoare (ro) (woman), vrăjitor (ro) (man)
• Romansch: stria (rm), streia (rm)
• Russian: ведьма (ru) (véd’ma) f , колдунья (ru) (koldún’ja) f , волшебница (ru) (volšébnica)  (wizardess, fairy), чародейка (ru) (čarodéjka) f 
• Santali: ᱯᱷᱩᱠᱨᱤᱱ (phukrin)
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-draoidh (gd) f, buidseach (gd) f, bana-bhuidseach (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вештица (sh) f, вештац (sh) m

  Roman: veštica (sh) f, veštac (sh) m

• Slovak: čarodejnica (sk) f, striga (sk) f, bosorka (sk) f
• Slovene: čarovnica (sl) f
• Spanish: bruja (es) f
• Sumerian: kashshaptu
• Swahili: mchawi (sw)
• Swedish: häxa (sv) c, trollpacka (sv) c (woman), trollkvinna (sv) c (woman), trollkarl (sv) c (man)
• Tamil: சூனியக்காரி (ta)
• Taos: còhəo’óna
• Telugu: మంత్రగత్తె (te) (maMtragatte)
• Turkish: cadı (tr)
• Ukrainian: відьма (uk) (víd’ma) f 
• Upper Sorbian: chodojta (hsb), kuzłarnča (hsb)
• Volapük: (male or female) magivan (vo), (male) himagivan (vo), (female) jimagivan (vo)
• Welsh: dewines (cy) f, gwrach (cy)
• West Frisian: tsjoendster (fy)

derogatory: ugly or unpleasant woman

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 魔女 (cmn) (mónǚ)

• Czech: čarodějnice (cs) f
• Finnish: akka (fi), ämmä (fi)
• French: sorcière (fr) f, harpie (fr) f
• German: Hexe (de) f
• Japanese: 鬼女 (ja) (きじょ, kijo)
• Macedonian: вештерка (mk) (véšterka) f

• Polish: wiedźma (pl) f
• Portuguese: bruxa (pt) f
• Russian: ведьма (ru) (véd’ma) f , карга (ru) (kargá) f 
• Slovene: coprnca (sl) f, čarovnica (sl) f
• Spanish: bruja (es) f
• Swahili: mchawi (sw)
• Turkish: cadı (tr)

Verb

witch (third-person singular simple present witches, present participle witching, simple past and past participle witched)

1. (obsolete) To practise witchcraft

   'It approaches the witching hour'.

2. To bewitch

See also

other terms of interest

athame black magic channelling chiromancer coven crystal ball curse enchantment familiar fortuneteller galdur grimoire hex hoodoo

jinx lamia medium necromancy occultism palmist poppet Sabbath Satanism scry shaman sorcery spell talisman tarot warlock wicca wizard

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

witch (plural witches)

1. An Atlantic flatfish, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus; Torbay sole.

Translations

Glyptocephalus cynoglossus — see Torbay sole

Etymology 3

Origin unknown.

Verb

witch (third-person singular simple present witches, present participle witching, simple past and past participle witched)

1. To dowse for water

Derived terms

• witcher

Etymology 4

Compare wick.

Noun

witch (plural witches)

1. A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat and used as a taper.