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Etymology and origin of the English word hex

English has two main words spelled hex: a verb and noun of witchcraft, borrowed from Pennsylvania German in the 19th century, and a computing word, a shortening of hexadecimal from the 1970s.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

hex1 to bewitch; a spell

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1830 J. F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia
Borrowed from
Pennsylvania German hexe
Ultimate origin
Old High German hagazussa

Etymology

The verb meaning to bewitch is borrowed from Pennsylvania German hexe (“to practise witchcraft”),[1][6][7][2][8] from German hexen (“to bewitch”),[1][6][9] which is related to Hexe (“witch”).[6][7] The German noun goes back to Middle High German hecse, also hexse,[6][9] from Old High German hagazussa, which the American Heritage Dictionary gives as hagzissa;[6][9] it is related to English hag.[1][7][3] Wiktionary compares Dutch heks (“witch”), beheksen (“to bewitch”) and Old English hægtesse (“witch, hag”).[5] Merriam-Webster derives the transitive verb from the compound verhexe, formed with ver-, the counterpart of English for-.[2] The noun, first meaning a witch, is likewise from Pennsylvania German, after the German noun.[1][10][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To practise witchcraft: 1830, in J. F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia,[1][2] an American word, as Barnhart and Etymonline note.[7][6] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1820–30.[11]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed chiefly North American.[10][4] The verb was first intransitive, to practise witchcraft, and then also transitive, to bewitch or put a spell on someone;[1][2] the Shorter Oxford dates the transitive use only to the mid 20th century.[10] The noun at first meant a witch (1856), also a woman who looks like one; the sense "magic spell, curse" is recorded from 1909, in the Saturday Evening Post.[1][6][7] Today the noun usually means a spell that brings bad luck, or something or someone that does,[9][2] and the verb has the weakened sense of bringing or wishing bad luck on something.[9]

Timeline

  • 1830 – to practise witchcraft; also to bewitch.[1][7][2]
  • 1856 – noun, a witch.[1][7][6]
  • 1909 – noun, a magic spell or curse.[1][7][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put a spell on; to bewitch: The old farmer was said to have hexed his rival's well.[3][2][1]
  2. To bring or wish bad luck on: A string of rainy weekends seemed to hex the fair.[9]
  3. To practise witchcraft.[2][1]

Noun

  1. An evil spell; a curse or jinx: She joked that someone had put a hex on her car.[9][3][2]
  2. A person or thing that brings bad luck.[9]
  3. A witch.[3][1][4]

Word family

  • hexer
  • dehex
  • hex sign

hex2 hexadecimal

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1970
Ultimate origin
English hexadecimal
Etymology tree of hex2
inherited borrowed derived
English decimal
English hex

Etymology

The computing word is a clipping from English hexadecimal,[1][2][3][4][10] which is formed from English hexa- + decimal.[6] Merriam-Webster takes hexadecimal as an alteration of sexadecimal under the influence of hexa-.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hexadecimal, as a noun or adjective: Merriam-Webster dates this use to 1970,[2] the OED to 1975, in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin.[1]

Semantic evolution

Hexadecimal itself is older: the adjective is recorded from 1954 (Etymonline gives 1952) and the noun, the hexadecimal system, from 1970.[1][6] The short form is used both as a noun and before another noun, as in hex code.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 1970 – hexadecimal notation.[2] The OED's first quotation is from 1975.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Hexadecimal notation, the number system with base 16: The address is written in hex.[3][2][1]

Adjective

  1. Written in or using hexadecimal notation: a hex value.[3][4][1]
  • hag
  • hexadecimal
  • hexa-
  • hexagonal

Usage notes

Several minor words are spelled the same way: hex as short for hexagonal, as in a hex head bolt, recorded from 1924;[2] in nuclear physics, hex for uranium hexafluoride, from 1956;[1][10] and in rock climbing a hex, a six-sided metal nut, short for the trade name Hexentric, from 1982.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Hex.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/hex. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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