whammy

English

Alternative forms

• whammie

Etymology

From wham +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)wæmi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æmi
• Hyphenation: wham‧my

Noun

whammy (plural whammies)

1. a serious or devastating setback
2. an evil spell; a curse or hex
3. (colloquialism) the vibrato system of an electric guitar, or just its lever (whammy bar)

Derived terms

• double whammy
• triple whammy
• whammy bar

Translations

a serious or devastating setback

• French: coup dur (fr) m
• German: böser Blick m
• Italian: duro colpo m
• Russian: неуда́ча (ru) f (neudáča)

an evil spell; a curse or hex

• Bulgarian: уроки (uroki)
• Russian: сглаз (ru) m (sglaz), прокля́тье (ru) n (prokljátʹje)