witch means A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives. It carries an Arena rating of 1636, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, witch ranks #541 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #1,000 of 17,115 for Most Vivid Words, #1,206 of 17,122 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,818 of 17,093 for Most Storied Words.
witch is pronounced /wɪt͡ʃ/.
Why “witch” is a great word
A person, especially a woman, believed to use magical or supernatural powers, often with malevolent intent, or who practices modern pagan religions. From Middle English *wicche*, from Old English *wicce* ('female sorceress') and *wicca* ('male sorcerer'), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną*, of uncertain ultimate origin; the later verb sense likely derives aphetically from *bewitch*. Unlike 'wizard' (which suggests a male, often benign, scholar of arcane arts) or 'healer' (which implies a restorative purpose), 'witch' is a word shaped by hearth-side fear and the shadow at the forest's edge. She is the crone's muttered curse that sours the milk, the scent of wormwood smoldering in clay, the silence that gathers beneath a full moon when names are spoken backward—the human vessel for our oldest dread of the unseen world's caprice, where knowledge kept outside the light stirs the old fear.
Etymology
From Middle English wicchen, from Old English wiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk-. In the senses arising in Middle English and later probably aphetic from bewitch.
noun
- A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives.e.g.“He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch.”
- A person who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.e.g.“To be considered a Witch of a particular tradition you will have to be initiated into that tradition by someone else within that tradition, after following their specific program of study.”
- An ugly or unpleasant woman.e.g.“I hate that old witch.”
- 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.
- Any of a number of flatfish of species:; Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.
- Any of a number of flatfish of species:; Arnoglossus scapha, found near New Zealand.
- An Indomalayan butterfly, of Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.
- A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat and used as a taper.
- A bitch.
verb
- To dowse for water.e.g.“And I told him there's a vein down there, I know 'caus I used to—uh, I went out here and witched one for this house, at the corner.”
- To practise witchcraft.
- To bewitch.e.g.“She has witched the Queen's womb long ago, and witched the whole harvest.”
Words closest in meaning
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