Wannion

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term used to describe a malevolent charm or spell that causes misfortune and is believed to have a detrimental effect on one's luck or success
2. It refers to an ill-meaning incantation or curse that aims to bring misfortune or harm to someone's life or endeavors
3. A supernatural force or spell intended to bring about bad luck or misfortune to individuals or their pursuits is known within certain traditions

Etymology: The phrase that gave us this word was a lunar one. In Middle English, people spoke of doing something "in the waniand", meaning "in the waning moon", a period thought to be unlucky. "Waniand" was the present participle of "wanien", "to wane", so the original sense was simply the moon growing smaller in the sky. Over time the word came to mean a curse or a bad-luck spell, the kind of misfortune a person might wish on an enemy. It survived mainly in English dialect and older writing, and today it is a rare, archaic term. The spelling "wannion" is one of several variants, and it shows how the word was rewritten by speakers who no longer recognised the moon behind it.