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charm

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Charm

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

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Noun

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charm (countable and uncountable, plural charms)

  1. An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation).
    Synonyms: incantation, spell, talisman; see also Thesaurus:amulet, Thesaurus:magic spell
    a charm against evil
    It works like a charm.
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 223:
      The witch, repository of hieratic lore and folk legends and occult arcana, became the distributor of philtres and unguents, electuaries and pastilles, herbs and charms and incantations - directed toward sexual pleasures and amatory satisfactions.
  2. (often in the plural) The ability to persuade, delight or arouse admiration.
    Synonyms: appeal, attraction, charisma
    Antonyms: boredom, dryness
    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.
    Synonyms: amulet, dangle, ornament; see also Thesaurus:amulet
    She wears a charm bracelet on her wrist.
  4. (collective) A group of goldfinches or other songbirds, or sometimes hummingbirds.
    Synonym: flock
    • 2020, Janine Urbaniak Reid, The Opposite of Certainty: Fear, Faith, and Life in Between‎[1], Thomas Nelson, page 263:
      It's a charm of hummingbirds, a rare sight.
    • 2014, Laurie Lee, I Can't Stay Long‎[2], Open Road Media:
      Nearby, a charm of nightingales flooded the daylit branches of a wood.
    • 2015, Wayne L. Ney, The Story of the Messiah: A Historical Account of the Life of Jesus Christ‎[3], WestBow Press, page 168:
      Therefore, do not fear, but trust in your Father's unfailing care, for you are more precious than a charm of sparrows.
    • 1924, John Henry Salter, Bird Life Throughout the Year‎[4], Swarthmore Press, page 182:
      There is the silvertoned twitter of a "charm" of Goldfinches at the thistle-heads, and, above all, there is the cheerful uproar of the Rooks once more.
    • 1906, L. B. Mouritz, “Ornithological Observations in Surrey”, in Zoologist: A Monthly Journal of Natural History‎[5], Newman West, page 102:
      24th. - Two Green Sandpipers, fifty Mute Swans, and five Herons at Hedgecourt Pond; a small "charm" of Goldfinches near Lingfield (C. H. B.).
    • 1896, Arthur Thomas Fisher, Outdoor Life in England‎[6], R. Bentley & Son, page 99:
      When it was desired to attract a 'charm' of goldfinches or other birds, the string was pulled, and the braced bird was thus thrown up into the air, and on the flock settling the nets were pulled over, the captured birds transferred to a cage, in the top of which was a hole large enough to admit of a hand being inserted, the leg of a stocking being nailed round the hole and tied in a knot to prevent the birds escaping.
    • 2017, Peggy A. Wheeler, The Splendid and Extraordinary Life of Beautimus Potamus‎[7], Dragon Moon Press:
      They looked up to see, sitting a tight knot attempting to conceal themselves on a branch thick with leaves and blossoms, the charm of purple finches.
    • 1929 August, Esther Forbes, “Ann Douglas Sedgwick and Her Novels”, in The Bookman‎[8], volume 69, Dodd Mead and Company, page 574:
      the "charm" of yellow goldfinches flying against the unearthly blue of the sky!
    • 1961 July, The Manchester Guardian Weekly‎[9], volume 61, page 15:
      I observed a charm of chaffinches get up at my approach and they seemed to be all females
  5. (particle physics) A quantum number of hadrons determined by the number of charm quarks and antiquarks.
    Coordinate term: strangeness
    • 1975 July 31, Sandra Blakeslee, “Another Particle Believed Discovered”, in The New York Times‎[10], →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 August 2025:
      In trying to understand the long life of the psi particle, physicists postulated the notion of “charm.” Charm, they say, prevents the “easy” decay of particles and thus prolongs their lifetimes. U particles, Dr. Pert said, may carry the property of charm.
    • 2020, James E. Dodd, Ben Gripaios, The Ideas of Particle Physics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 173:
      Mesons which combine the charmed quark with the up or down antiquarks are denoted the D mesons. These mesons carry explicit charm (i.e. have a non-zero charm quantum number), just as the K mesons carry strangeness.
  6. (finance) A second-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the instantaneous rate of change of delta with respect to time.
    Synonyms: delta decay, DdeltaDtime
    Hypernym: Greeks
  7. (graphical user interface, Microsoft Windows) An icon providing quick access to a command or setting.
    • 2012, J. Peter Bruzzese, Using Windows 8:
      Undoubtedly one of the most important pieces to navigating Windows 8, charms are actually not visible until a command to show them is given.
Descendants
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  • → Danish: charm
  • → German: Charm
  • → Swedish: charm
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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charm (third-person singular simple present charms, present participle charming, simple past and past participle charmed)

  2. To seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something.
    Synonyms: delight, enchant, enamor, entrance, fetch, (literary) charm
    He charmed her with his dashing tales of his days as a sailor.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      […] they, on thir mirth & dance / Intent, with jocond Muſic charm his ear;
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:
      The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
  3. (transitive) To use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence; to ensorcel or exert a magical effect on.
    Synonyms: bewitch, enchant, ensorcel, enspell
    After winning three games while wearing the chain, Dan began to think it had been charmed.
  4. To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences.
    She led a charmed life.
  5. (obsolete, rare) To make music upon.
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “October. Ægloga Decima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 42, recto:
      But ah my corage cooles ere it be warme, / For thy, content vs in thys humble ſhade: / Where no ſuch troublous tydes han vs aſſayde, / Here we our ſlender pipes may ſafely charme.
  6. To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.
    • 1687 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, canto VII, page 378:
      Music the fierceſt griefs can charm, / And fate's ſevereſt rage diſarm: […]
Translations
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Derived terms

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Etymology 2

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    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.

    Alternative forms

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    Noun

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    charm (plural charms)

    1. The mixed sound of many voices, especially of birds or children.
    2. A flock, group (especially of finches).
      • 2018, Holly Ringland, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart:
        A charm of finches flew overhead, singing into the vivid afternoon sky.

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    Chinese

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    Etymology

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    From English charming.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    charm

    1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) charming

    Danish

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    Etymology 1

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    Borrowed from English charm.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    charm c (singular definite charmen, plural indefinite charms)

    1. charm (jewelry)
    Inflection
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    Declension of charm
    common
    gender     		singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative charm charmen charms charmene
    genitive charms charmens charms' charmenes

    Etymology 2

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    See charme (“to charm”).

    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    charm

    1. imperative of charme

    Palauan

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    Etymology

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    From Pre-Palauan *qaram, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qayam (“domesticated animal”).

    Pronunciation

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    This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

    Noun

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    charm

    1. animal
    2. living creature

    References

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    • charm in Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary, at tekinged.com.
    • charm in Palauan-English Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
    • charm in Lewis S. Josephs; Edwin G. McManus; Masa-aki Emesiochel (1977), Palauan-English Dictionary, University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, page 35.

    Swedish

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    charm c

    1. charm; the ability to persuade, delight, or arouse admiration

    Declension

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    Declension of charm
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite charm charms
    definite charmen charmens
    plural indefinite — —
    definite — —
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    References

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