Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definitions: Bewitch |
BewitchVerb1. Attract; cause to be enamored; "She captured all the men's hearts". 2. Attract strongly, as if with a magnet; "She magnetized the audience with her tricks". 3. Cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bewitch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1532. (references) |
Note: Bewitch \Be*witch"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Bewitched; present participle verb or noun Bewitching.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: BewitchSynonyms: becharm (v), beguile (v), captivate (v), capture (v), catch (v), charm (v), enamor (v), enamour (v), enchant (v), entrance (v), fascinate (v), glamour (v), hex (v), jinx (v), magnetize (v), mesmerise (v), mesmerize (v), spellbind (v), trance (v), witch (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Love | Excite love; win the heart, gain the heart, win the affections, gain the affections, secure the love, engage the affections; take the fancy of have a place in the heart, wind round the heart; attract, attach, endear, charm, fascinate, captivate, bewitch, seduce, enamor, enrapture, turn the head. |
Motive | Tempt, seduce, overpersuade, entice, allure, captivate, fascinate, bewitch, carry away, charm, conciliate, wheedle, coax, lure; inveigle; tantalize; cajole; (deceive). |
Pain | Please, charm, delight, becharm, imparadise; gladden; (make cheerful); take, captivate, fascinate; enchant, entrance, enrapture, transport, bewitch; enravish. |
Sorcery | Verb: practice sorcery;Noun: cast a nativity, conjure, exorcise, charm, enchant; bewitch, bedevil; hoodoo, voodoo; entrance, mesmerize, magnetize; fascinate; (influence); taboo; wave a wand; rub the ring, rub the lamp; cast a spell; call up spirits, call up spirits from the vasty deep; raise spirits from the dead. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Bewitch |
| English words defined with "bewitch": Effascinate ♦ Forspeak ♦ Maleficiate ♦ voodoo. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "bewitch": Maleficiate. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I can teach you how to bewitch the mind, and ensnare the senses. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; writing credit: Steven Kloves) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption |
| Purr; meow; content; rumble; appease; bewitch; captivate; charm; delight; enrapture; gladden; gratify; humor; indulge; make happy; mollify; placate; reconcile; satisfy; suffice; thrill; tickle; please; feline. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Francis Bacon | None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Bewitch" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 77.78% of the time. "Bewitch" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 77.78% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 22.22% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 9 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
bewitch | 26 |
bewitch show tv | 3 |
art bewitch gallery | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "bewitch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | beheks (delude), begogel (delude), begoël (delude). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | tërheq (allure, appeal, arrest, attract, call attention to, capture, catch, charm, daggle, dangle, decoy, drag, draggle, draw, draw out, engage, entice, fetch, fix, haul, heave, invite, jerk, lure, pluck, prepossess, pull, pull out, recall, retract, revoke, stretch, take back, tow, tug, web, withdraw), magjeps (captivate, charm, enchant, enthral, enthrall, fascinate, hex, infatuate, ravish, spellbind), josh (attract, charm, dangle, dazzle, decoy, deprave, draw, entice, inveigle, lure, lure away, seduce, tempt, vamp, wile). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فتن (captivate, charm, enchant, enthral, enthrall, enthralling, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamour, infatuate, love, magnetize, mesmerize, ravish, rejoice, seduce, smite, spellbind, tempt, thrill, witch), سحر (attractiveness, bedevil, bewitchment, catch, charm, conjure, diablerie, enamor, enamour, enchantment, fascinate, fascination, glamor, glamour, incantation, infatuation, loveliness, magic, magnetize, matinee, mesmerize, necromancy, overlook, pleasantness, prestige, quaintness, ravishment, relish, smite, sorcery, spell, spellbind, temptation, weirdness, witch, witchcraft, witchery, wiz, wizardry, zest), خلب النظر, خلب اللب, أخذ بالعين. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | очаровам (captivate, charm, delight, ecstasize, enamor, enamour, enchant, enrapture, fascinate, glamor, glamour, ravish, spellbind, take captive), омагьосвам (bedevil, charm, enchant, glamor, glamour, hoodoo, spellbind, voodoo, witch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 惑 (enchant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zaklít (cuss), okouzlit (beguile, charm, enamor, enamour, enrapture, enthral, enthrall, fascinate, glamorize, spell, spellbind, transport), oèarovat (enchant, spellbind, witch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | heksen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | sorĉi, ensorĉi (delude). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | ganda. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | فریفتن (Captivate, Charm, Deceive, Decoy, Doodle, Enchant, Entice, Hustle, Intrigue, Inveigle, Jilt, Lure, Poop, Seduce, Skunk, Tempt, Wile), مسحورکردن (Bedevil, Charm, Ravish), افسون کردن (Enchant, Voodoo, Witch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | taikoa (conjure, practise witchcraft, use magic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | ensorceler. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | toverje. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | verzaubern (cast a spell over, delude, enchant, put a spell on), verhexen (bedevil, cast a spell over, delude, hex, jinx, put a jinx on, to jinx). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | γοητεύω (bedevil, beguile, charm, enchant, enrapture, enthral, fascinate, hex, mesmerize, ravish, spell, witch), μαγεύω (charm, hex, vamp, witch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לקסום (captivate, cast a spell on, charm, divine, enchant, fascinate), לכשף (charm, enchant, spell). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megront (blight, corrupt, demoralize, deprave, deteriorate, infect, pervert, pollute, seduce, to canker, to debauch, to deprave, to deteriorate, to hex, to pervert, to seduce sy, to taint, to violate, to vitiate, to voodoo, to warp, vitiate), megbabonáz (bedevil, enchant, to bewitch, to charm, to enchant, to hex, to mesmerize), elbûvöl (enchant, enthral, enthrall, entrance, fascinate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | menggiurkan (entrance, rapturous, ravish, whet), mempesona (breathtaking). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | stregare (hex, witches), incantare (be charmed, be spellbound, charm, enchant, enthral, enthrall, spell, spellbind), ammaliare (charm, enchant), affascinare (allure, captivate, catch, charm, enchant, enthral, enthrall, fascinate, intrigue, lead away, spellbind, take). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 悩殺 (enchant, fascinate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | のうさつ (enchant, fascinate, votive card or tablet). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | druightey, cur fo obbeeys, cur druiaght er (captivate), buitchal. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | forhekse. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | tover. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ewitchbay fascinar (alluring, becharm, captivate, charm, entrance examination, fascinate, fascinating, glamor, glamour, lure, magnetize), enfeitiçar (enchant, enthral, enthrall, glamorise, glamourize, spell, voodoo), encantar (allure, appeal, becharm, charm, conjure, delight, enchant, enrapture, enthral, enthrall, fascinated, fetch, flatter, glamor, glamour, lure, rapture), cativar (captivate, catch, charm, conciliate, enamour, encaenia, enthral, enthrall, magnetize, win). (various references) vrãji (allure, bedevil, cast a glamour over, cast a spell upon, charm, enchant, enrapture, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamour, lure, spell, spellbind), fermeca (allure, bedevil, captivate, carry, cast a spell upon, charm, conjure, enamor, enamour, enchant, enrapture, enravish, enthral, entrance, fascinate, fetch, lure, smite, spell, spellbind, take), fascina (charm, fascinate, glamor, glamour, magnetize, mesmerize), încânta (captivate, charm, delight, delude, enamor, enamour, enchant, enrapture, get over, glamor, glamour, gratify, imparadise, ravish, seduce, smite). (various references) восхищать (delight, enrapture, entrance, ravish), очаровать, заколдовать (cast a spell), пленять (captivate). (various references) gon (annoy; bewitch, blast, wound). (various references) začarati, omađijati. (various references) embrujar (haunt, hex). (various references) obya. (various references) förtrolla (captivate, charm, enchant, enthrall, fascinate, infatuate, spellbind), förhäxa (cast a spell on, enchant, overlook). (various references) ทำให้หลงเสน่ห์. (various references) büyülemek (allure, bedazzle, beguile, captivate, cast a spell on, catch up, charm, conjure, daze, dazzle, enamor, enamour, enchant, enthral, enthrall, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamorize, glamour, hypnotize, inthral, spell, spellbind, voodoo, witch), büyü yapmak (glamorize, hex, hoodoo, jinx, practise sorcery, put a jinx on, voodoo, witch), afsunlamak (conjure, enchant, hex). (various references) обворожити, зачаровувати (allure, beguile, dazzle, enamor, enamour, enchant, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamour, philter, philtre, spell), полонити (captivate, capture, charm). (various references) swyno (beguile, charm, enchant), rheibio (ravage, raven, ravish), llygad-dynnu (bamboozle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | defigunt, defixae, defixi, defixisti, defixit, defixos, dementasset, dementes, devorant, devorat, devoratis, devota, devoverat, devoverunt, devovimus, fascinatio, fascinavit. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bewitch": bewitched, bewitcheries, bewitchery, bewitches, bewitching, bewitchingly, bewitchment, bewitchments. (additional references) | |
| |
"Bewitch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Bawaeth, Bawsinch, Begwith, beitch, betwitch, boitch, Boswith, Bowditch, Brewitt, Gewirth, repitch. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "bewitch" (pronounced buwi"kh) |
| 3 | -w i" kh | switch, twitch, which, wich, witch. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-e-h-i-t-w" | |
-2 letters: bitch, ethic, twice, wecht, white, witch, withe. | |
-3 letters: beth, bice, bite, chew, chit, cite, etch, etic, itch, thew, whet, whit, wich, wite, with. | |
-4 letters: bet, bit, chi, eth, het, hew, hic, hie, hit, ice, ich, tew, the, tic, tie, web, wet, wit. | |
-5 letters: be, bi, eh, et, he, hi, it, ti, we. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-e-h-i-t-w" | |
+2 letters: bewitched, bewitches. | |
+3 letters: bewitchery, bewitching, switchable. | |
+4 letters: bewitchment, birdwatcher, switchblade. | |
+5 letters: bewitcheries, bewitchingly, bewitchments, birdwatchers, switchbacked, switchblades. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 65 77 69 74 63 68 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-... . .--. .. - -.-. .... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01100101 01110111 01101001 01110100 01100011 01101000 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B e w i t c h |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0065 0077 0069 0074 0063 0068 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)36718975866974 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Sounds 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.