cantrip

English

Alternative forms

• cantrap, cantrup, cantraip

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæntɹɪp/

Noun

cantrip (plural cantrips)

1. A spell or incantation; a trifling magic trick.
   • 1791, Robert Burns, "Tam o' Shanter", lines 125-8, [1]

     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 […]

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 12, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998:

     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.

   • 1976, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Something Nasty in the Woodshed, Penguin, published 2001, page 422:

     For one thing, I've no intention of distributing cantrips and costly crucifixes to every rapable woman in the Parish of St Magloire.

   • 1984, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom Of The Wicked:

     And when I say now the power of the name Jesus makes you whole, I indulge in no petty mountebank’s cantrips.

   • 2009, James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet, Witch and Wizard, Little, Brown and Company, page 148:

     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.

Related terms

• spellwork