FreeScrabbleDictionary

cantrip

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
11
Words With Friends
14
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈkæntɹɪp/

Definition of cantrip

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick.
    “Coffins stood round, like open presses, That shaw’d the dead in their last dresses; And by some devilish cantrip slight Each in its cauld hand held a light […]”
    “I have some poor little skill—not like yours, Master Doctor, of course—in small spells and cantrips that I’d be glad to use against our enemies if it was agreeable to all concerned.”
    “For one thing, I've no intention of distributing cantrips and costly crucifixes to every rapable woman in the Parish of St Magloire.”
    “And when I say now the power of the name Jesus makes you whole, I indulge in no petty mountebank’s cantrips.”
    “But it sounds to me like you're in a totally different category. Not garden-variety cantrip stuff.”
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick.
    “Coffins stood round, like open presses, That shaw’d the dead in their last dresses; And by some devilish cantrip slight Each in its cauld hand held a light […]”
    “I have some poor little skill—not like yours, Master Doctor, of course—in small spells and cantrips that I’d be glad to use against our enemies if it was agreeable to all concerned.”
    “For one thing, I've no intention of distributing cantrips and costly crucifixes to every rapable woman in the Parish of St Magloire.”
    “And when I say now the power of the name Jesus makes you whole, I indulge in no petty mountebank’s cantrips.”
    “But it sounds to me like you're in a totally different category. Not garden-variety cantrip stuff.”
  2. A wilful piece of trickery or mischief.
  3. A minor spell, typically one that can be cast without preparation.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of…

See full etymology

From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of musical notation consisting of a series of otherwise meaningless syllables memorised by pipers in learning their tunes; this was then used similarly to abracadabra. Regardless of details, ultimately derived from Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”).

Words you can make from cantrip

102 playable · top: CATNIP (10 pts)

Best play catnip 10 points

5-letter words

17 words

4-letter words

36 words

3-letter words

37 words

2-letter words

11 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to cantrip to make another valid word.

Back

Find your best play with cantrip

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes cantrip, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.

Find more plays Browse word lists