witch

Meaning

Noun

1. A person who practices witchcraft.
2. A person who practices witchcraft.
3. An ugly or unpleasant woman.
4. One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
5. One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
6. A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
7. The storm petrel.
8. Any of a number of flatfish:
9. Any of a number of flatfish:
10. Any of a number of flatfish:
11. The Indomalayan butterfly Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.

Verb

To dowse for water.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To practise witchcraft.
2. To bewitch.

Concepts

witch

sorcerer

wizard

sorceress

hag

magician

enchantress

bewitch

hex

shaman

evil spirit

warlock

witch flounder

crone

lamia

sibyl

harridan

vixen

enchant

jinx

demon

powwow

gray sole

virago

glamour

beldam

beldame

Wiccan

wise woman

charm

shrew

Torbay sole

ugly woman

necromancer

craig fluke

grey-sole

whitch

demoness

ogress

she-devil

termagant

pale flounder

torbay sole

cummer

hell-cat

night-hag

pishogue

female magician

do magic

priest

diviner

healer

wise man

bedevil

beguile

enrapture

enthral

fascinate

mesmerize

ravish

spell

belch

vamp

witchdoctor

bag

queen

chant

enchanter

python

battle-ax

battle-axe

ghost

grey flounder

pole flounder

Craig fluke

witch sole

flet

harpy

devil

medium

ensorcell

magic

snake

supernatural power

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wɪt͡ʃ/

Etymology

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 is from the noun.