jinx
pronunciation
How to pronounce jinx in British English:
UK [dʒɪŋks]
How to pronounce jinx in American English:
US [dʒɪŋks]
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- Noun:
- a person believed to bring bad luck to those around him
- an evil spell
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- Verb:
- cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something
- foredoom to failure
Word Origin
- jinx (n.)
- 1911, American English, originally baseball slang; perhaps ultimately from jyng "a charm, a spell" (17c.), originally "wryneck," a bird used in witchcraft and divination, from Latin iynx "wryneck," from Greek iynx. Most mysterious of all in the psychics of baseball is the "jinx," that peculiar "hoodoo" which affects, at times, a man, at other times a whole team. Let a man begin to think that there is a "jinx" about, and he is done for for the time being. ["Technical World Magazine," 1911] The verb is 1912 in American English, from the noun. Related: Jinxed; jinxing.
Example
- 1. A traditional world cup power 's jinx is about to end .
- 2. Media wags couldn 't resist invoking the jackie jinx .
- 3. We hadn 't bought anything though because we thought that would jinx our chances .