hex

• IPA^(key): /hɛks/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛks

First attested about 1830, from Pennsylvania German hexe (“to practice witchcraft”), from German hexen (compare Hexe (“witch”)).[1] The noun appeared later, in the 1850s.[2] Cognate to Norwegian Bokmål heks (“witch”) and Dutch heks (“witch”), Dutch beheksen (“to bewitch”), Old English hægtesse (“witch, hag”). Doublet of hag.

hex (third-person singular simple present hexes, present participle hexing, simple past and past participle hexed)

1. (transitive) To cast a spell on (specifically an evil spell), to bewitch.

hex (plural hexes)

1. An evil spell or curse.
2. A witch.
3. (rare) A spell (now rare but still found in compounds such as hex sign and hexcraft).

Short for hexadecimal.

hex (uncountable)

1. (computing, informal) Clipping of hexadecimal.

Short for hexagon.

hex (plural hexes)

1. A hexagonal space on a game board.
2. (climbing) a hexagon-shaped item of rock climbing equipment intended to be wedged into a crack or other opening in the rock.

• (climbing): nut

Short for hexafluoride.

hex (plural hexes)

1. (chemistry) Clipping of uranium hexafluoride.

• exh