witchcraft

Etymology

From Middle English wicchecraft, wicchecreft, from Old English wiċċecræft, equivalent to witch +‎ -craft.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪtʃkɹæft/

Noun

witchcraft (usually uncountable, plural witchcrafts)

1. The practice of witches; magic, sorcery or the use of supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
   • 1387, John Trevisa (transl.), Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis, chapter XLIV:

     And in þat ilond is sortilege and wicchecraft [transl. superstitiones, atque præstigia] i-vsed. For wommen þere selliþ schipmen wynde, as it were i-closed vnder þre knottes of þrede, so þat þe more wynd he wol haue, he wil vnknette þe mo knottes.

   Wiccans believe in a modernised form of witchcraft.

Noun

witchcraft

1. Alternative form of wicchecraft