obeah

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obeah

/ˈəʊbɪə/ UK
/ˈobia/ Caribbean

Where it comes from

Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia.

noun obeahs · obe · obea · obi · obia · oby

countable, uncountable A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean. Although lacking a self-perpetuating institutional structure, Obeah was a crucial element of Afro-Caribbean religions everywhere from Suriname's Maroon societies (communities of runaway slaves) to the Leeward Islands' slave societies.
countable, uncountable A magician or witch doctor of the magic craft. […] but he went down to death, with dusky dreams of African shadow-catchers and Obeahs hunting him.
Similar: mage, shaman, spellcaster, archmage, archmagician, bewitcher, charmer, conjurer, illusionist, Karcist, magic user, magus
countable, uncountable A spell performed in the practice of the magic craft; an item associated with such a spell. Mr. M. J. Walhouse then read a paper on "Some Indian Obeahs", and exhibited some photos of Kurumbars, and a piece of the bone of an elk and an iron cock's spur, with which a man had been murdered, both of which had been regarded as Obeahs.
Similar: enchantment, makutu, wanga, cantrip, chantment, charm, conjuration, craft, dwimmer, hex, incantation, magic

verb obeahs · obeahing · obeahed · obe · obea

transitive To bewitch using this kind of folk magic. Sometimes an egg is boiled hard, and laid in the middle of the road, surrounded by a circle of plantane bark; at others, pieces of hair, cats' teeth, cocks' feathers, and bits of glass, broken amber, and snakes' skins, are placed at the person's door; but oftener buried so as to be concealed from si

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MLA

"obeah." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/obeah. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

obeah. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/obeah

Chicago

"obeah." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/obeah.

BibTeX

@misc{obeah_2026,
  title = {obeah},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/obeah},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}