Top 57 Words Associated With Witches (Curated & Ranked)
Stories of witches have been around throughout history.
In popular culture, they’ve been portrayed as everything from evil, green-faced women (“The Wizard of Oz”) to suburban housewives (“Bewitched”) to teens with special powers (“The Craft”).
Early witches were often fearfully regarded as practitioners of “dark” magic, but many were simply natural healers or had spiritual beliefs outside of Christianity.[1]
Such misunderstandings led to witch hunts like Massachusetts’ Salem witch trials in the 1690s.[2]
Today, witches are still somewhat misunderstood but have found less fear and more acceptance over time.
Many young people associate witchcraft with free thought and a connection with nature.[3]
Below, we list the words associated with witches, including explanations. Scroll past the list to find out about famous witches in popular culture.
Words Associated With Witches
Occult
supernatural, mystical, and magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena
Witchcraft
practicing magic and/or pagan traditions
Coven
a gathering of witches
Voodoo
religion combining elements of Roman Catholic ritual and African religious rites; often involves sorcery or spiritual possession
Hecate
Greek goddess presiding over magic and spells
Wicca
religious practice inspired by pre-Christian traditions; often involves witchcraft and a reverence for nature
Warlock
a man who practices witchcraft
Witch-hunt
searching for and persecuting witches
Talisman
an object that brings good luck; often a ring or stone with an inscription
Sabbat
meeting of witches
High Priestess
leader of a coven
Spell
words used to bring about magic
Hoodoo
a religion primarily found in parts of the Caribbean and the southern U.S. that involves sorcery and spirit possession
Alchemy
transforming, creating, or combining materials; a medieval precursor to the science of chemistry
Cauldron
large iron kettle used for preparing brews, potions, and Sabbat feasts
Witching hour
a magical time when the barrier between worlds opens, allowing mystical beings to cross; often thought to be between midnight and 3 a.m.
Fairy cross
a stone charm that wards off bad luck
Salem
a village in colonial Massachusetts where thirty people were found guilty of witchcraft in the late 1600s
Familiar
a “familiar spirit,” or animal connected that will obey a witch
Altar
a table, bench, stump, or rock where a witch places her materials while practicing her craft
Witch trials
an investigation to uncover the practice of witchcraft and punish its practitioners
Pagan
someone who holds religious beliefs outside of the major world religions
Magic
influencing events through supernatural forces and practices
Sorcery
the use of magic
Conjuring
conducting rituals to call upon spirits
Samhain
festival marking the beginning of winter
Amulet
an ornament or piece of jewelry that gives protection
Mascot
something that brings good luck
Wizard
a man with magic powers
Curse
invoking supernatural powers to inflict punishment
Incantation
words spoken as a magic spell or charm
Divination
seeking knowledge of the future through supernatural forces
Foretelling
predicting a future event
Hex
a magic spell or curse
Conjurer
a person who conjures
Bruja
Spanish word for a witch or a woman with knowledge of folk magic
Black magic
invoking evil spirits or using magic for malicious purposes
Incantor
someone who performs incantations
Scrying
using a crystal ball or other reflective object to see the future
Circe
an enchantress in Greek mythology
Broomstick
household tool for sweeping that a witch can use to fly to Sabbat
Sorcerer
a person who claims to have magic powers
Enchant
to put someone under a spell
Walpurgis night
a meeting of witches on May Day’s eve in German folklore
Charm bag
a drawstring pouch worn around the neck or waist that contains herbs, gemstones, or other objects
Supernatural
forces beyond scientific understanding or the known laws of nature
Handfasting
making a pledge by shaking or joining hands; sometimes used in place of “wedding” or “marriage”
Wand
branches cut from sacred trees and used in some rituals or practices by witches
Hocus-pocus
words used by a person performing magic
Graeae
three “grey witch” sisters in Greek mythology
Beltane
ancient May Day festival celebrating the springtime
Craft
a shortening of “witchcraft”; also the name of an iconic 1996 film about teenage witches
Jinx
a spell to bring bad luck upon others
Ducking
the practice of tying a person’s hands and feet and throwing them into a pond or river to find out whether they were a witch
Necromancy
communication with the dead through sorcery
Enchantress
a woman using magic or sorcery to put someone or something under a spell
Bewitch
to cast a spell over someone
Famous Witches in Popular Culture
Interested to know more about how popular culture has portrayed witches over time?
We’ve gathered some of the most famous examples below!
- “American Horror Story: Coven” is a TV series following a group of witches in New Orleans, also featuring flashbacks to the Salem witch trials.
- “Charmed” (premiering in 1998 and rebooted in 2018) is a TV series following three sisters — Prue, Piper, and Phoebe — who are powerful good witches.
- “The Chronicles of Narnia” features several witch characters, including Jadis (the White Witch) as the antagonist of “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
- The 1996 film “The Craft” follows four high school outcasts who become interested in witchcraft.
- Hermione Granger is one of many witches-in-training at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in “Harry Potter.” She’s known for her quick wit and encyclopedic knowledge of magic.
- “Hocus Pocus” is an iconic 1993 Disney film following the Sanderson sisters, three witches accidentally resurrected by a teenager in Salem on Halloween night.
- The British fantasy drama “Merlin” follows the warlock of the same name from Arthurian legend.
- “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” is a comic book series following a young half-witch, Sabrina Spellman, who lives with her witch aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman. It’s been adapted into several animated series, films, and live-action TV series.
- L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” features the good witches of the north and south and the wicked witches of the east and west. While the Wicked Witch of the West was unnamed in the original book, she was later given the name Elphaba and a rich backstory in “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire.
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