talisman
/ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/
talisman noun: a magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or certain powers.
Noun (1)
talisman (plural talismans or (nonstandard) talismen)
- A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or certain powers.
- That woman’s love is a talisman by which he holds and hopes to get his safety.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 29, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
- I have in my possession three Magic Talismans, which I have ever guarded with utmost care, keeping the knowledge of their existence from anyone else.1916, Frank Baum, chapter 1, in Rinkitink in Oz
Verb
talisman (third-person singular simple present talismans, present participle talismaning or talismanning, simple past and past participle talismaned or talismanned)
- To adorn with a talisman.
- The second in his saddle reeled, / Down thundered man and horse;— / Oft I essayed with blow and thrust, / As oft a foeman rolled in dust; / But, ah, what could a single arm, / Though talismaned by beauty’s charm, / Against a host?—for love—for life— / I waged awhile the desperate strife; / ’T was...1832, D. M. Ferguson, “Legend”, in Evan Bane; A Highland Legend: and Other Poems, London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, section “Spirit of the Cloud”, page 54
- Lo, under their coats, amulets of idols! Possibly such charms talismaned every breast in his army.1886 January, A. G. Laurie, “The Jew—From the Maccabees to Christ. Part IV.”, in Richard Eddy, editor, The Universalist Quarterly and General Review, new series, volume XXIII, Boston, Mass....
Noun (2)
talisman (plural talismans)
- A mullah (Islamic religious scholar).
talisman meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
talisman in Hindi
- magical protective charms
- तिलिस्म tilisma, तिलस्म tilasma, मंगल maṅgal, कवच kavac
talisman in Tamil
- தாயத்து
talisman in Urdu
- magical protective charms
- طِلِسْم tilism, تَعْوِیذ ta'vīz
talisman in Bengali
- magical protective charms
- তাবিজ tabij, কবচ koboc
More languagesFewer languages
- talisman in Telugu
- టాలిస్మాన్, టాలిస్మన్, టాలిస్మ్యాన్
- talisman in Malayalam
- ഏലസ്സ്, തകിട്, ഉറുക്ക്
- talisman in Kannada
- ಕಾಪುಂಗುರ, ಕಾಪುಕಟ್ಟು
- talisman in Gujarati
- તાવીજ tāvīj
- talisman in Odia
- ଟ୍ଯ଼ାଲିଜ୍ମାନ୍
- talisman in Sanskrit
- मङ्गल maṅgala
- talisman in Nepali
- तालिसमान, तालिस्म्यान, तालिस्मन
- talisman in Tagalog
- agimat
- talisman in Arabic
- طِلَسْم ṭilasm, طِلَّسْم ṭillasm
- talisman in Malay
- azimat
- talisman in Indonesian
- isim, jimat
- talisman in Thai
- ของดี kɔ̌ɔng-dii, เครื่องราง krʉ̂ʉang-raang, ของขลัง kɔ̌ɔng-klǎng, วัตถุมงคล wát-tù-mong-kon
- talisman in Vietnamese
- bùa hộ mệnh
- talisman in Myanmar
- အခံ a.hkam, အဆောင် a.hcaung
Examples of talisman in a sentence
- He re-pocketed it indifferently; a talisman which had lost its potency.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 17, in Crime out of Mind:
- She kept low, clutching the rifle she'd taken as though it were a magic talisman, as if it would somehow protect her even though she didn't fire it.1997, John Peel, chapter 10, in War of the Daleks, page 233:
- People rushed to read it; but it was talismaned by a seal, which none dared to break.1911, J[ames] Rendel Harris, “Introduction”, in The Odes and Psalms of Solomon: Published from the Syriac Version, 2nd edition, Cambridge...
- Fond youth, vain were thy sulphurous bolts against / This subtle necromancer, armed and talismaned / By the Grail’s prophylactic power.1939, R[obert] C[alverley] Trevelyan, The Collected Works of R. C. Trevelyan, volume II (Plays), London: Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., page...
Forms of talisman
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | talismans |
| plural (nonstandard) | talismen |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | talismans |
| present participle | talismaning |
| present participle | talismanning |
| past participle | talismaned |
| past | talismaned |
| past participle | talismanned |
| past | talismanned |
Origin of talisman
From French talisman, partly from Arabic طِلَّسْم (ṭillasm, “payment”), from Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment”); and partly directly from Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “talisman, religious rite, completion”), from τελέω (teléō, “to perform religious rites, to complete”), from τέλος (télos, “end, fulfillment, accomplishment, consummation, completion”). Doublet of telesm.
Uncertain. Perhaps a corruption of some Arabic word.
Words formed from talisman
Questions about talisman
- What does talisman mean?
- Talisman means a magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or certain powers.
- What is talisman in Hindi?
- Talisman in Hindi is तिलिस्म (tilisma), तिलस्म (tilasma), मंगल (maṅgal). See Talisman meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use talisman in a sentence?
- He re-pocketed it indifferently; a talisman which had lost its potency.
- What part of speech is talisman?
- Talisman can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce talisman?
- Talisman is pronounced /ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/.
- What is the plural of talisman?
- The plural of talisman is talismans.
Words near talisman in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: talisman (page history and authors); talisman (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); talisman (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); talisman (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); talisman (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); તાવીજ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); talisman (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); talisman (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-talisman.ogg, en-au-talisman.ogg.
Cite this entry: “talisman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/talisman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.