Unhex

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To remove a spell or curse that has been placed on a person or object ; to decode a string of hexadecimal digits back into the raw bytes it represents
2. To lift an enchantment or jinx from someone or something ; to turn a hexadecimal representation back into its original binary form
3. To free a person or thing from a hex or curse ; in computing, to reverse hex encoding so the underlying binary values are restored

Etymology: "Unhex" is a verb formed by attaching the prefix "un-", meaning "reverse" or "undo", to "hex." The prefix is a long-standing English device for reversing an action, as in "unlock" or "untie," and it is applied here to the sense of "hex" as a spell or curse. To unhex something is to lift the magical affliction that a hex has placed on it. The base word carries its own history. "Hex" came into American English from the German "Hexe," meaning "witch," and was used for a bewitching spell, especially among Pennsylvania German communities, before spreading more widely. Because "hex" is already a verb meaning "to bewitch," adding "un-" simply turns the curse around, so the new word needs no separate invention, only the familiar reversing prefix.

Synonyms: disenchant

Antonyms: hex, bewitch