hex

CEFRC1

/ˈhɛks/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A magic spell believed to bring bad luck.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A witch.

Examples

  • You may need hex keys to adjust the gears on your bike.

  • You'll need a hex key to open it.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An evil spell or curse.

  2. A spell (now rare but still found in compounds such as hex sign and hexcraft).

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To cast a spell on (specifically an evil spell), to bewitch.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The angry witch put a nasty blank on the prince, causing him to fall ill.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

First attested about 1830, from Pennsylvania German hexe (“to practice witchcraft”), from German hexen (compare Hexe (“witch”)). The noun appeared later, in the 1850s. Cognate to Norwegian Bokmål heks (“witch”) and Dutch heks (“witch”), Dutch beheksen (“to bewitch”), Old English hægtesse (“witch, hag”). Doublet of hag.