hag

Meaning

1. A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a wizard.
2. An ugly old woman.
3. An evil woman.
4. A fury; a she-monster.
5. A hagfish; one of various eel-like fish of the family Myxinidae, allied to the lamprey, with a suctorial mouth, labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings.
6. A hagdon or shearwater; one of various sea birds of the genus Puffinus.
7. (obsolete) An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a person's hair.
8. The fruit of the hagberry, Prunus padus.
9. (slang) Sleep paralysis.

witch

slime eels

beldame

old witch

spitefire

hell-cat

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/hæɡ/

From Middle English hagge, hegge (“demon, old woman”), shortening of Old English hægtesse, hægtes (“harpy, witch”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Häkse (“witch”), Dutch heks, German Hexe (“witch”). Doublet of hex.