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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

charm.

An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation).

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tʃɑːm/Received-Pronunciation/t͡ʃɑɹm/General-American
  1. An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation).

    countable · uncountable
    a charm against evil
    It works like a charm.
  2. The ability to persuade, delight or arouse admiration.

    countable · in-plural · often · uncountable
    He had great personal charm.
    She tried to win him over with her charms.
  3. A small trinket on a bracelet or chain, etc., traditionally supposed to confer luck upon the wearer.

    countable · uncountable
    She wears a charm bracelet on her wrist.
  4. A group of goldfinches or other songbirds, or sometimes hummingbirds.

    collective · countable · uncountable
  5. A quantum number of hadrons determined by the number of charm quarks and antiquarks.

    countable · particle · uncountable
  6. A second-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the instantaneous rate of change of delta with respect to time.

    countable · uncountable
  7. An icon providing quick access to a command or setting.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English charme, from Old French charme (“chant, magic spell”), from Latin carmen (“song, incantation”). Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, poison, charm”).

verb/tʃɑːm/Received-Pronunciation/t͡ʃɑɹm/General-American
  1. To seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something.

    He charmed her with his dashing tales of his days as a sailor.
  2. To use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence; to ensorcel or exert a magical effect on.

    transitive
    After winning three games while wearing the chain, Dan began to think it had been charmed.
  3. To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences.

    She led a charmed life.
  4. To make music upon.

    obsolete · rare
  5. To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English charme, from Old French charme (“chant, magic spell”), from Latin carmen (“song, incantation”). Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, poison, charm”).

noun/tʃɑːm/Received-Pronunciation/t͡ʃɑɹm/General-American
  1. The mixed sound of many voices, especially of birds or children.

  2. A flock, group (especially of finches).

Where this word comes from

Synchronically a variant of chirm, but reflects Middle English charme (or unattested *charm), from Old English ċearm (“cry, alarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *karm, masculine variant of *karmi f, from Proto-Germanic *karmiz, *karm(j)az (“cry, lament, calling sound”). Near-doublet of chirm, which is from the feminine counterpart.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.