obeah

Meanings

Noun

• A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
• A magician or witch doctor of the magic craft.
• A spell performed in the practice of the magic craft; an item associated with such a spell.

Verb

• To bewitch using this kind of folk magic.

Origin

• Origin uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to , obìa.