Hex

//hɛks// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An evil spell or curse.
  2. 2
    Clipping of hexadecimal. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal, uncountable
  3. 3
    A hexagonal space on a game board.
  4. 4
    Clipping of uranium hexafluoride. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
  5. 5
    an evil spell wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A witch.
  2. 7
    a hexagon-shaped item of rock climbing equipment intended to be wedged into a crack or other opening in the rock.
  3. 8
    A spell (now rare but still found in compounds such as hex sign and hexcraft). rare
Verb
  1. 1
    To cast a spell on (specifically an evil spell), to bewitch. transitive
  2. 2
    cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or pertaining to a number system having 16 as its base wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abuseaccurseafflictaggrieveanathemaanathematize

Example

More examples

"You may need hex keys to adjust the gears on your bike."

Etymology

Etymology 1

First attested about 1830, from Pennsylvania German hexe (“to practice witchcraft”), from German hexen (compare Hexe (“witch”)). The noun appeared later, in the 1850s. Cognate to Norwegian Bokmål heks (“witch”) and Dutch heks (“witch”), Dutch beheksen (“to bewitch”), Old English hægtesse (“witch, hag”). Doublet of hag.

Etymology 2

Short for hexadecimal.

Etymology 3

Short for hexagon.

Etymology 4

Short for hexafluoride.

Related phrases

hex barhex crawlhex edithex editorhex head bolthex head screwhex head wrenchhex keyhex signhex-edithex-editorhex sign

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.