"cantrip" meaning in All languages combined

See cantrip on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈkæntɹɪp/ Forms: cantrips [plural]
Etymology: From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of musical notation consisting of a series of otherwise meaningless syllables memorised by pipers in learning their tunes; this was then used similarly to abracadabra. Regardless of details, ultimately derived from Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|sco|cantrip|cantrip, cantrap|a magic charm; a trick}} Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”), {{der|en|gd|canntaireachd}} Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd, {{cog|ga|cantaireacht}} Irish cantaireacht, {{m|en|abracadabra}} abracadabra, {{der|en|la|cantō||to sing, chant, play an instrument}} Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} cantrip (plural cantrips)
  1. A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick.
    Sense id: en-cantrip-en-noun-94vR9ye1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with tab characters Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 93 7 Disambiguation of Pages with tab characters: 85 15
  2. A wilful piece of trickery or mischief.
    Sense id: en-cantrip-en-noun-P6mPhjJV
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: cantrap, cantrup, cantraip

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for cantrip meaning in All languages combined (3.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sco",
        "3": "cantrip",
        "4": "cantrip, cantrap",
        "5": "a magic charm; a trick"
      },
      "expansion": "Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gd",
        "3": "canntaireachd"
      },
      "expansion": "Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ga",
        "2": "cantaireacht"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish cantaireacht",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "abracadabra"
      },
      "expansion": "abracadabra",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "cantō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to sing, chant, play an instrument"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of musical notation consisting of a series of otherwise meaningless syllables memorised by pipers in learning their tunes; this was then used similarly to abracadabra. Regardless of details, ultimately derived from Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cantrips",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cantrip (plural cantrips)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with tab characters",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1791, Robert Burns, \"Tam o' Shanter\", lines 125-8, http://www.bartleby.com/337/825.html#txt28",
          "text": "Coffins stood round, like open presses,\nThat shaw’d the dead in their last dresses;\nAnd by some devilish cantrip slight\nEach in its cauld hand held a light […]"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 12, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998",
          "text": "I have some poor little skill—not like yours, Master Doctor, of course—in small spells and cantrips that I’d be glad to use against our enemies if it was agreeable to all concerned.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Something Nasty in the Woodshed, Penguin, published 2001, page 422",
          "text": "For one thing, I've no intention of distributing cantrips and costly crucifixes to every rapable woman in the Parish of St Magloire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom Of The Wicked",
          "text": "And when I say now the power of the name Jesus makes you whole, I indulge in no petty mountebank’s cantrips.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet, Witch and Wizard, Little, Brown and Company, page 148",
          "text": "But it sounds to me like you're in a totally different category. Not garden-variety cantrip stuff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick."
      ],
      "id": "en-cantrip-en-noun-94vR9ye1",
      "links": [
        [
          "spell",
          "spell"
        ],
        [
          "incantation",
          "incantation"
        ],
        [
          "trick",
          "trick"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A wilful piece of trickery or mischief."
      ],
      "id": "en-cantrip-en-noun-P6mPhjJV",
      "links": [
        [
          "trickery",
          "trickery"
        ],
        [
          "mischief",
          "mischief"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkæntɹɪp/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cantrap"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cantrup"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cantraip"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cantrip"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Scots",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Scots",
    "English terms derived from Scottish Gaelic",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Pages with tab characters"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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        "2": "sco",
        "3": "cantrip",
        "4": "cantrip, cantrap",
        "5": "a magic charm; a trick"
      },
      "expansion": "Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”)",
      "name": "bor"
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      "expansion": "Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd",
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      "args": {
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "abracadabra"
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "cantō",
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      },
      "expansion": "Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of musical notation consisting of a series of otherwise meaningless syllables memorised by pipers in learning their tunes; this was then used similarly to abracadabra. Regardless of details, ultimately derived from Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "cantrips",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cantrip (plural cantrips)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1791, Robert Burns, \"Tam o' Shanter\", lines 125-8, http://www.bartleby.com/337/825.html#txt28",
          "text": "Coffins stood round, like open presses,\nThat shaw’d the dead in their last dresses;\nAnd by some devilish cantrip slight\nEach in its cauld hand held a light […]"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 12, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998",
          "text": "I have some poor little skill—not like yours, Master Doctor, of course—in small spells and cantrips that I’d be glad to use against our enemies if it was agreeable to all concerned.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Something Nasty in the Woodshed, Penguin, published 2001, page 422",
          "text": "For one thing, I've no intention of distributing cantrips and costly crucifixes to every rapable woman in the Parish of St Magloire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom Of The Wicked",
          "text": "And when I say now the power of the name Jesus makes you whole, I indulge in no petty mountebank’s cantrips.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet, Witch and Wizard, Little, Brown and Company, page 148",
          "text": "But it sounds to me like you're in a totally different category. Not garden-variety cantrip stuff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "spell",
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          "incantation",
          "incantation"
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          "trick",
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        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A wilful piece of trickery or mischief."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trickery",
          "trickery"
        ],
        [
          "mischief",
          "mischief"
        ]
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkæntɹɪp/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cantrap"
    },
    {
      "word": "cantrup"
    },
    {
      "word": "cantraip"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cantrip"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.