obeah
Syllables: o·be·ah/ˈəʊbɪə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Caribbean/ˈobia/
obeah noun: a form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
Noun
obeah (countable and uncountable, plural obeahs)
- A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
- Although lacking a self-perpetuating institutional structure, Obeah was a crucial element of Afro-Caribbean religions everywhere from Suriname's Maroon societies (communities of runaway slaves) to the Leeward Islands' slave societies.1997, James D. Rice, “Obeah”, in Junius P. Rodriguez, editor, The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, volumes II (L–Z), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 477
- However, quite often it is also applied to protect from obeah spells which the client feels himself or herself to be suffering from. Since obeah can also cast protective spells (e.g., against other obeah spells), it is not entirely correct to dismiss it as an evil practice.2001, Holger Henke, The West Indian Americans (The New Americans), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 89
- A magician or witch doctor of the magic craft.
- […] but he went down to death, with dusky dreams of African shadow-catchers and Obeahs hunting him.1860 November, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “The Story of West-Indian Emancipation”, in M[oncure] D[aniel] Conway, editor, The Dial: A Monthly Magazine for Literature, Philosophy and Religion, volume I...
- A Jamaican Christian came to me for counseling. […] I asked him if he had been charmed as a child by an Obeah. Obeahs are the magicians of the Carribean^([sic]) islands.1986, Kurt E. Koch, Occult ABC: Exposing Occult Practices and Ideologies, 2nd edition, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, →ISBN, page 299
- Synonyms:
- mage, shaman, spellcaster, archmage, archmagician, bewitcher, charmer, conjurer, illusionist, Karcist
- A spell performed in the practice of the magic craft; an item associated with such a spell.
- Mr. M. J. Walhouse then read a paper on "Some Indian Obeahs", and exhibited some photos of Kurumbars, and a piece of the bone of an elk and an iron cock's spur, with which a man had been murdered, both of which had been regarded as Obeahs.1893 June, “Folk-Lore Society. Proceedings at Evening Meetings.”, in Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, & Custom, volume IV, number II, London: David Nutt, 270, Strand...
- Synonyms:
- enchantment, makutu, wanga, cantrip, chantment, charm, conjuration, craft, dwimmer, hex
Verb
obeah (third-person singular simple present obeahs, present participle obeahing, simple past and past participle obeahed)
- To bewitch using this kind of folk magic.
- Sometimes an egg is boiled hard, and laid in the middle of the road, surrounded by a circle of plantane bark; at others, pieces of hair, cats' teeth, cocks' feathers, and bits of glass, broken amber, and snakes' skins, are placed at the person's door; but oftener buried so as to be concealed from...1829 October 31, “S.” [pseudonym], “Obeah”, in The New Scots Magazine, volume II, number XII, Edinburgh: Published by R. Buchanan, No. 26, George Street [...], published 1830, →OCLC, page 248
- [I]f any negro from that time forward should be proved to have accused another of Obeahing him or of telling another that he had been Obeahed, he should forfeit his share of the next present of salt-fish, which I meant soon to distribute among the slaves, and should never receive any favour from me...1834, Mattew Gregory Lewis, Journal of a West India Proprietor, Kept during a Residence in the Island of Jamaica, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, pages 146–147
Examples of obeah in a sentence
- Obeah—a set of hybrid or creolized beliefs dependent on ritual invocation, fetishes, and charms—incorporates two very distinct categories of practice.2011, Margarite Fernández Olmos, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, “Obeah, Myal, and Quimbois”, in Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An...
- A lock of the obeahed person's hair is almost indispensably necessary, […]1829 October 31, “S.” [pseudonym], “Obeah”, in The New Scots Magazine, volume II, number XII, Edinburgh: Published by R. Buchanan, No. 26...
- The Obeah woman then goes to those people, and tells them she has Obeahed them.1903, Charles Augustus Stoddard, quoting Henry Hesketh Bell, Cruising Among the Caribbees: Summer Days in Winter Months, rev. and enl....
- A poor old woman who thinks she has been Obeahed lies ill in an isolated hut on the short cut to New Castle.1906 December – 1907 May, Isabella S. Abel, “The Obeah-man”, in The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, volume XXV...
Synonyms of obeah
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of obeah
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | obeahs |
| alternative form | obe |
| alternative form | obea |
| alternative form | obi |
| alternative form | obia |
| alternative form | oby |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | obeahs |
| present participle | obeahing |
| past participle | obeahed |
| past | obeahed |
Origin of obeah
Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia.
Words formed from obeah
Phrases with obeah
Questions about obeah
- What does obeah mean?
- Obeah means a form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
- How do you use obeah in a sentence?
- Obeah—a set of hybrid or creolized beliefs dependent on ritual invocation, fetishes, and charms—incorporates two very distinct categories of practice.
- What part of speech is obeah?
- Obeah can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce obeah?
- Obeah is pronounced /ˈəʊbɪə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of obeah?
- The plural of obeah is obeahs.
Words near obeah in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: obeah (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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