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talisman.

A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or certain powers.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn//ˈtæl.ɪz.mən/
  1. A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or certain powers.

Where this word comes from

From French talisman, partly from Arabic طِلَّسْم (ṭillasm, “payment”), from Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment”); and partly directly from Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “talisman, religious rite, completion”), from τελέω (teléō, “to perform religious rites, to complete”), from τέλος (télos, “end, fulfillment, accomplishment, consummation, completion”). Doublet of telesm.

verb/ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn//ˈtæl.ɪz.mən/
  1. To adorn with a talisman.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From French talisman, partly from Arabic طِلَّسْم (ṭillasm, “payment”), from Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment”); and partly directly from Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “talisman, religious rite, completion”), from τελέω (teléō, “to perform religious rites, to complete”), from τέλος (télos, “end, fulfillment, accomplishment, consummation, completion”). Doublet of telesm.

noun/ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn//ˈtæl.ɪz.mən/
  1. A mullah (Islamic religious scholar).

    India · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Perhaps a corruption of some Arabic word.

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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.