sigil means A seal, signature or signet. It carries an Arena rating of 1772, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sigil ranks #1,823 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,448 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #4,675 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #6,342 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
sigil is pronounced /ˈsɪd͡ʒɪl/.
Why “sigil” is a great word
A unique symbol, often hand-drawn, created to represent and effect a specific magical intention, or a character like @ or # that modifies a term's function in programming. From Latin *sigillum*, diminutive of *signum* ("sign, seal"). Unlike a "symbol," which broadly stands for something, or an official "seal" pressed into wax, a sigil is a private compaction of will into form. It is the deliberate scratch of ink on parchment meant to bind a desire, the carved mark on an amulet believed to ward off malice, or the humble asterisk that silently transforms a variable in code—a testament to the human urge to make abstract power tangible and obedient to a shape, where every stroke carries the weight of a whispered command.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sigillum (“little sign”). Doublet of seal and sigillum.
noun
- A seal, signature or signet.
- An occult or magical sign, image or symbol.
- A nonalphanumeric symbol affixed to a term (such as a variable) to indicate a property such as type or scope.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.