Plural of “witch”

The plural of witch is witches.

Why

"Witch" comes from Old English "wicce" (feminine) and "wicca" (masculine), describing a person believed to practice magic. Like other nouns ending in a hushing -ch sound, it needs an inserted vowel before the plural marker so the ending can actually be pronounced as its own syllable, which is why the plural is "witches" rather than the unpronounceable "witchs."

The word originally applied to both men and women practicing magic, with distinct masculine and feminine forms in Old English, but the modern word "witch" narrowed over time to apply almost exclusively to women, while a magic-practicing man came to be called a "wizard" instead, a separate word with its own distinct etymology tracing to "wise." The modern religious movement Wicca, a form of neopaganism founded in the mid-20th century, deliberately revived the Old English masculine form "wicca" as its name, drawing a direct etymological line back to the word's earliest recorded ancestor.

Usage note

"Witches" is standard in every context, from folklore and fantasy fiction to the modern religious and spiritual sense used by practitioners of Wicca and related traditions.

The historical witch trials of early modern Europe and colonial America, including the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692, are a major subject of historical scholarship examining how social panic, religious conflict, and misogyny combined to produce mass accusations and executions of people, overwhelmingly women, accused of witchcraft. Modern practitioners of Wicca and related pagan traditions have reclaimed "witch" as a positive self-identifying term, a significant shift from the word's historically overwhelmingly negative and persecutory connotations in most of Western history.

Common real mistakes

The spelling itself poses little difficulty, but writers covering both history and contemporary religion should distinguish the historical and legal sense of "witch" used in witch-trial scholarship from the modern religious self-identification claimed by contemporary Wiccans and pagans, since blurring the two can come across as dismissive of a living spiritual practice.

The wider pattern

Its narrowing from a gender-neutral Old English term to a predominantly feminine modern one parallels similar semantic narrowing seen in a number of other English words describing social or supernatural roles, even as its spelling stays governed by the same ordinary -ch pluralization rule found in "beach" and "match."

Examples

• The folk tale featured three witches living deep in the forest.
• Halloween decorations included paper witches taped to the windows.
• Historians study the trials of accused witches in colonial New England.
• The novel follows a coven of witches practicing in secret.
• Children dressed as witches for the school costume parade.
• The museum exhibit examined the persecution of accused witches across Europe.
• Modern witches often describe their practice as deeply personal and varied.
• The film depicted rival witches competing for magical power.
• Local legend tells of witches who once lived near the old mill.
• The documentary interviewed practicing witches about their beliefs and rituals.
• The play reimagines the witches from Shakespeare's tragedy.
• Costume shops sell every variety of witches' hats each October.
• The town holds an annual festival honoring its accused witches from centuries past.
• Fantasy novels often portray witches with wildly different sets of powers.
• The coven welcomed new witches into its practice each season.
• The historical society preserves records of accused witches from the region.
• Illustrators depicted the witches with strikingly different styles over the decades.
• The children learned about accused witches in their history unit.
• Modern witches often gather to celebrate the changing seasons.
• The bakery sells cookies shaped like witches every autumn.
• The parade featured floats depicting friendly witches.
• The book club discussed a novel narrated by two rival witches.
• The exhibit compared depictions of witches across different centuries.
• The children's book gently retold the story of two kind witches.
• The class debated why so many folk tales feature witches.