What does wych mean?
Wych is an uncommon English noun used chiefly in archaic and dialectal writing for a witch, sorceress, or similar female supernatural figure. Its best-known modern appearance may be in old stories, northern English dialects, and Scottish usage, where it preserves a spelling and pronunciation that differ from standard “witch.” In a separate and now obsolete sense, wych denotes a hedge, bank, or embankment, especially one marking a boundary. The word can lend a deliberately antiquarian atmosphere to fiction, but it would usually sound out of place in ordinary contemporary prose. Its historical interest lies in the survival of an older English form and in the fact that it briefly carried meanings associated both with supernatural women and with physical boundaries. A modern speaker encountering wych is most likely to understand it as a variant of witch, while the hedge sense is chiefly encountered in dictionaries and historical texts.
nounAn archaic or dialectal variant of witch, denoting a woman or female being believed to practice sorcery. In a separate, obsolete sense, it means a hedge, bank, or embankment.
- An archaic or dialectal term for a witch, sorceress, or female supernatural figure.
- An obsolete term for a hedge, bank, or embankment.
"The old tale tells of a wych who lived alone in the forest and traded in forbidden knowledge."
"The villagers said the wych had placed a curse upon the spring."
"The old boundary wych still separated the field from the common land."
Wychs is the regular plural of the uncommon standalone form; older or dialectal texts using wych as a variant of witch may use the standard plural witches.
"The stories name three wychs who lived beyond the old forest."
A word that kept its old spelling long after English standardized on “witch”—and once also meant a hedge.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of wych
The principal sense descends through Middle English forms such as wiche and wych from Old English wicca, meaning a witch, sorcerer, or practitioner of harmful magic. The now-obsolete sense meaning a hedge or bank comes through Middle English wic and wych from a separate Old English word for an enclosure or embankment. Words such as witchcraft, witchery, and wicca preserve the older ancestry of the first sense.
Related word forms
How wych is actually used
The word is now uncommon and is encountered mainly in historical texts, dialect records, antiquarian writing, and deliberately archaic fantasy prose. The enclosure sense is fully obsolete in modern standard English.
Easily confused with wych
Witch is the standard modern spelling, whereas wych is a rare archaic or dialectal form used especially in northern English and Scottish contexts.
A wick is the combustible strand of a candle or lamp, whereas wych is usually pronounced with a final /tʃ/ and denotes an old form of witch.