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* Welsh: {{t|cy|dewines|f}}, {{t|cy|gwrach}} |
* Welsh: {{t|cy|dewines|f}}, {{t|cy|gwrach}} |
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* West Frisian: {{t|fy|tsjoenster}} |
* West Frisian: {{t|fy|tsjoenster}} |
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* Westrobothnian: {{t|gmq-bot|trullkjälling|f}} |
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* Xhosa: {{t|xh|igqwirhakazi|c5|c6}} |
* Xhosa: {{t|xh|igqwirhakazi|c5|c6}} |
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* Yiddish: {{t|yi|מכשפֿה|f|tr=makhsheyfe}} |
* Yiddish: {{t|yi|מכשפֿה|f|tr=makhsheyfe}} |
Revision as of 11:40, 1 April 2023
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: wĭch, IPA(key): /wɪt͡ʃ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
- Homophone: which (in accents with the wine-whine merger), wich, wych
Etymology 1
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”);[1] akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). In its informal use as an insult for unpleasant women, sometimes parsed in the United States as a blend of white + bitch, with use restricted to that race. Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more.
Noun
witch (plural witches)
- A person who practices witchcraft.
- 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum viij”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book I, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
- Some of the kynges had merueyl of Merlyns wordes and demed well that it shold be as he said
And som of hem lough hym to scorne
as kyng Lot
and mo other called hym a wytche
But thenne were they accorded with Merlyn that kynge Arthur shold come oute and speke with the kynges.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:witch.
- (now usually particularly) A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 186:
- It was easy to understand that they were witches, who had turned themselves into ravens.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 106:
- However, the word "witch" came to be applied almost exclusively to women who were believed to achieve their power by making a blood pact with the Devil, sealed with their blood. They were usually old and ugly, and for this reason many unfortunate old ladies, whose only crimes were loneliness and a lack of beauty, went to the stake.
- (figurative, derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.
- 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.
- (geometry) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
- The storm petrel.
- Any of a number of flatfish:
- Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Torbay sole), found in the North Atlantic.
- Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.
- Arnoglossus scapha, found near New Zealand.
- The Indomalayan butterfly Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.
Synonyms
- (person who uses magic): See Thesaurus:magician
- (female magic user): wizardess, sorceress
- (male magic user): wizard, sorcerer, warlock
- (an ugly or unpleasant woman): See Thesaurus:old woman or Thesaurus:ugly woman or Thesaurus:shrew
Derived terms
- bewitch
- cold as a witch's tit
- man-witch
- nonwitch
- witch alder
- witch ball
- Witchblr
- witch bottle
- witchcamp
- witchcraft
- witch doctor
- witchdom
- witchery
- witches' brew
- witches' butter
- witches' cauldron
- witches' knickers
- witches' Sabbath
- witchfinder
- witchfinding
- witchgrass
- witch hat
- witch hazel
- witch-hunt
- witching hour
- witchish
- witchkind
- witchlet
- witchlike
- witchling
- witch-meal
- witch moth
- witch of Agnesi
- Witch of November
- witch-ridden
- witch's bells
- witch's broom
- witch-smeller
- witch's milk
- witch's moneybags
- witchspirit
- witch's water
- WitchTok
- witchweed
- witchy
Translations
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Verb
witch (third-person singular simple present witches, present participle witching, simple past and past participle witched)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To practise witchcraft.
- (transitive) To bewitch.
- 1900, Gilbert Murray, Andromache: A Play in Three Acts:
- She has witched the Queen's womb long ago, and witched the whole harvest.
- 2012, Carol Berg, The Daemon Prism: A Novel of the Collegia Magica, Penguin, →ISBN:
- The little man was seething and shaking, near collapse with fear and anger. “Tell 'em, Alvy.” “A tenday ago, Will came to the Cockatoo acting crazy, so scared he'd pissed hisself. Said the sorcerer had found him in the stables and witched him.”
- 2014, Charles L. McNichols, Crazy Weather, Counterpoint Press, →ISBN:
- “Maybe the Mormonhater witched him. There's lot of stories being told around about that old man.” “Them's lies,” denied South Boy hotly. “He may have scared Havek, but he never witched him.”
- 2017, Benjamin R. Kracht, Kiowa Belief and Ritual, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 134:
- Sometime in 1945 he faced an opponent who apparently “witched” him, causing facial paralysis and dizzy spells that rendered him bedridden. An old Indian doctor came to his bedside, looked into his eyes, and proclaimed that he had been witched by his Seminole adversary.
- (intransitive) To dowse for water.
- 1964, Hilda E. Webb, Water Witching and Other Folk Talents in the Neighborhood of Bloomington, Indiana:
- 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.
- 2006, Helen Ayers, Appalachian Daughter: The Exodus of the Mountaineers from Appalachia:
- Nothing would make him shut up until I brought my dogwood stick into his office and witched for water.
- 2010, C.J. Ott, True Stories: Memories, Musings, Odds and Ends:
- Eventually, Don and Jim built nice big houses on their lots. We enjoyed watching them being built. I remember Don's builder came out and “witched” for a well.
Derived terms
See also
Etymology 2
Compare wick.
Noun
witch (plural witches)
References
- ^ Guus Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 586.
- 1998, David Roediger, "What to Make of Wiggers: A Work in Progress", Generations of Youth, pp. 358–366.
- Arnoglossus scapha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Arnoglossus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- Arnoglossus scapha on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Scots
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female),sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer”) m., 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”);[1] akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”).
Noun
witch (plural witchs)
- witch; A person, chiefly a woman, skilled in sorcery.
- (transferred) Various animals, insects and objects in some way associated with witches.
- A moth in general; a tortoiseshell butterfly.
- The pole flounder or dab, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus.
- The seaweed, Laminaria saccharina.
- A red clay marble, generally one that is considered effective in winning games, a “wizard”.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- man-witch
- witch brooch
- witch butterfly
- witch cake
- witch geet
- witch knot
- witch thummles
- witch tree
- witch's mark
- witch's nip
- witch's thorn
- witch's whorl
- witch-bead
- witch-bell
- witch-book
- witch-bracken
- witch-bridle
- witch-carline
- witch-clout
- witch-gowan
- witch-ground
- witch-hag
- witch-queen
- witch-score
- witch-sole
- witch-wean
- witch-wife
- witchcraft
- witcherie
- witches' milk
- witches' needle
- witches' nick
- witches' paps
- witches' spittin
- witchfu
- witchie-body
- witchie-clock
- witchiflooer
- witchlin
- witchy
Verb
witch (third-person singular simple present, present participle witching, simple past witchit, past participle witchit)
- (transitive) To harm (a person, etc.) by means of witchcraft; to bewitch, cast a spell on.
- (figurative) To affect or influence as by witchcraft.
References
- ^ Guus Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 586.
Further reading
- “witch” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ
- Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weyk- (separate)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Middle English terms with quotations
- English terms with quotations
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Geometry
- English verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English blends
- en:Female
- en:Flatfish
- en:People
- en:Tubenose birds
- en:Wicca
- en:Gossamer-winged butterflies
- en:Female people
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns
- Scots verbs
- Scots transitive verbs
- sco:Female
- sco:Occult
- sco:People