witch
Meanings
- A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives.
- A person who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.
- An ugly or unpleasant woman.
- One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
- One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
- A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
- A storm petrel.
- Any of a number of flatfish of species:
- Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, the witch flounder or Torbay sole, found in the North Atlantic.
- Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.
- Arnoglossus scapha, found near New Zealand.
- An Indomalayan butterfly, of Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.
- To dowse for water.
- To practise witchcraft.
- To bewitch.
- A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat and used as a taper.
- A bitch.
- Acronym of Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Old English wiċċe Proto-Germanic *wikkōną Proto-West Germanic *wikkōn Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *wikkō Old English wiċċa Middle English wicche English witch The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female), sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer, warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb derives from the noun.