What does "hag" mean?
A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a female wizard.
Hag
/hæɡ/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a female wizard.
- Grammar: hag is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: beldam, crone, witch, baboon.
- Useful contrasts: beauty, good woman, nymph.
- Usage evidence: "You've had two wishes already," the hag said, "but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. This is why you remember nothing."
How to use "hag"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hag" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hag" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hag" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hag" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hag" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "beldam" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hag", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a female wizard.
"And that olde hag that with a staffe his staggering lymbes dooth stay"
- 2 A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed for felling, or which has been felled. Northern-England
"This said, he led me over hoults and hags; / Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew"
- 3 eellike cyclostome having a tongue with horny teeth in a round mouth surrounded by eight tentacles; feeds on dead or trapped fishes by boring into their bodies wordnet
- 4 An ugly old woman. derogatory
"The elder women were literally "old hags" - lean and shrivelled, and excessively ugly."
- 5 A marshy hollow, especially an area of peat lying lower than surrounding moorland, formed by erosion of a gully or cutting and often having steep edges.
"And they likewise ordained […] that all the warp should be thrown into the Common wayes, to fill up haggs and lakes, where need was, upon a great penalty, where it should ly neer the Common rode."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 an ugly evil-looking old woman wordnet
- 7 An evil woman. derogatory
"I don't plan to stop drinking. But... I don't wanna forget. I can't turn away anymore. So, if I'm gonna die, well, it might as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag."
- 8 A woman, particularly one over the age of 30 years. US, derogatory, slang, sometimes
"– What is that hag trend that is going on?"
- 9 A fury; a she-monster.
"Fourth of the cursed knot of hags is she / Or rather all the other three in one; / Hell's shop of slaughter she does oversee, / And still assist the execution"
- 10 A hagfish; one of various eel-like fish of the family Myxinidae, allied to the lamprey, with a suctorial mouth, labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings.
- 11 A hagdon or shearwater; one of various sea birds of the genus Puffinus.
- 12 An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a person's hair. obsolete
"Flamma lambentes (or those we call Haggs) are made of Sweat or some other Vapour issuing out of the Head; a not-unusuall sight amongst us when we ride by night in the Summer time: They are extinguisht, like flames, by shaking the Horse Mains"
- 13 The fruit of the hagberry, Prunus padus.
- 14 Sleep paralysis. slang, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To cut or erode (as) a hag (a hollow into moorland).
"hag […] is that part in mosses which is naturally or artificially cut, hollowed, hagged, or hacked; naturally by water runlets forming hollows, and artificially by, among other means, the cutting and removal of peat."
- 2 To harass; to weary with vexation. transitive
"How are Superstitious Men Hagg'd Out of their Wits and Senses, with the Fancy of Omens, Forebodings, Old Wives Tales, and Visions"
Example
""You've had two wishes already," the hag said, "but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. This is why you remember nothing.""
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hag"?
Common synonyms include: beldam, crone, witch, baboon, bag, bat.
How do you use "hag" in a sentence?
"You've had two wishes already," the hag said, "but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. This is why you remember nothing."
How do you pronounce "hag"?
Pronounced /hæɡ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English hagge, hegge (“demon, old woman”), shortening of Old English hægtesse, hægtes (“harpy, witch”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Häkse (“witch”), Dutch heks, German Hexe (“witch”). Doublet of hex.
Etymology 2
From Middle English hag (denoting a gap in a cliff), from Old Norse hǫgg (“cut, gap, breach”), derivative of hǫggva (“to hack, hew”). Compare English hew, Old Swedish hug (“blow, stroke”).
Etymology 3
From Middle English haggen, from Proto-Germanic *hag(g)ōnan (compare obsolete Dutch hagen (“to torment, agonize”), Norwegian haga (“to tire, weaken”)).