magic

pronunciation

How to pronounce magic in British English: UK [ˈmædʒɪk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce magic in American English: US [ˈmædʒɪk] word us audio image

Noun:

any art that invokes supernatural powers
an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
Adjective:

possessing or using or characteristic of or appropriate to supernatural powers

Word Origin

magic: magic: [14] Greek mágos, a word of Persian origin, meant ‘sorcerer’ (Latin borrowed it as magus, whose plural magi is used in English for the three ‘Wise Men’ who visited the infant Christ). From mágos was derived the adjective magikós. Its use in the phrase magiké tékhnē ‘sorcerer’s art’ led eventually to magiké itself being regarded as a noun, and it passed into English via late Latin magica and Old French magique.=> magi

magic (n.): late 14c., "art of influencing events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces," from Old French magique "magic, magical," from Late Latin magice "sorcery, magic," from Greek magike (presumably with tekhne "art"), fem. of magikos "magical," from magos "one of the members of the learned and priestly class," from Old Persian magush, possibly from PIE *magh- (1) "to be able, to have power" (see machine). Transferred sense of "legerdemain, optical illusion, etc." is from 1811. Displaced Old English wiccecræft (see witch); also drycræft, from dry "magician," from Irish drui "priest, magician" (see druid).

magic (adj.): late 14c., from Old French magique, from Latin magicus "magic, magical," from Greek magikos, from magike (see magic (n.)). Magic carpet first attested 1816. Magic Marker (1951) is a registered trademark (U.S.) by Speedry Products, Inc., Richmond Hill, N.Y. Magic lantern "optical instrument whereby a magnified image is thrown upon a wall or screen" is 1690s, from Modern Latin laterna magica.