Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » hex

hex

Listen See in Thesaurus See in a sentence

The definition of a hex is a witch, or a bad spell.

(noun)

An example of a hex is a spell designed to bring bad luck to someone.

Hex is defined as to cast a spell or a curse.

(verb)

An example of hex is to conjure up a spell to bring bad luck to someone.

See hex in Webster's New World College Dictionary

☆

noun

Dialectal a witch
1. a sign, spell, etc. believed to bring bad luck
2. a jinx

Origin: PaGer hexe < Ger < OHG hagazussa, akin to OE hagtes: see hag

transitive verb

to cause to have bad luck; jinx

adjective

hexagonal (sense )

noun

hexagon

See hex in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

An evil spell; a curse.
One that brings bad luck.

transitive verb hexed, hex·ing, hex·es

To put a hex on.
To bring or wish bad luck to: “Chilly evening weather and a chain of minor snafus seemed to hex the $5,000-a-seat gala on Governors Island” (Newsweek).

Origin:

Origin: Pennsylvania Dutch

Origin: , from German hexen, to hex

Origin: , from Hexe, witch

Origin: , from Middle High German hecse

Origin: , from Old High German hagzissa

Related Forms:

hexˈer noun

Word History: The word hex is a good example of the sort of borrowing from other languages that occurred in the English-speaking former colonies of Great Britain. German and Swiss immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the late 17th and 18th centuries spoke a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch. In this dialect hexe was the equivalent of the German verb hexen, “to practice sorcery.” The English verb hex, first recorded in the sense “to practice witchcraft” in an 1830 work called Annals of Philadelphia, is borrowed from Pennsylvania Dutch, as is the noun.

adjective

Hexagonal. Used of hardware.

Learn more about hex

hex synonyms

hex computer definition

hex in a sentence

hex images