Sideromancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of fortune-telling that relies on analyzing patterns and formations made from iron objects for divinatory purposes
2. An ancient technique of predicting the future based on the interpretation of iron's shapes and lines for guidance
3. A divination practice that seeks to gain insight into the future by interpreting the shapes and arrangements of iron materials

Etymology: Sideromancy is a compound built from two Greek elements: "sideros", meaning iron, and "-manteia", meaning divination or prophecy, which gave English the suffix "-mancy" (as in "necromancy" or "geomancy"). The practice itself, reading patterns in iron objects, is the kind of divination that the word's roots describe directly, so the name does exactly what it says. The practice was often carried out by dropping or heating iron pieces and interpreting how they fell, cooled, or formed shapes. Because the word is a plain technical coinage built from familiar parts, its meaning follows straightforwardly from its components, and its use is mostly confined to descriptions of occult and folk practices.

Synonyms: iron divination