Wicca

American  

[wik-uh] / ˈwɪk ə /

noun

1. a nature-oriented religion having rituals and practices derived from pre-Christian religious beliefs and typically incorporating modern witchcraft of a benevolent kind.

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Wicca British  

/ ˈwɪkə /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) the cult or practice of witchcraft

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Other Word Forms

• Wiccan noun

Etymology

Origin of Wicca

First recorded in 1950–55; adapted from Old English wicca “male sorcerer” ( Middle English wicch(e), “sorcerer (male or female)”; see also witch, wicked

Example Sentences

On the Maes in Pwllheli, a mobile sign on the pavement advertises a shop's wares: "Tarot, Crystals, Wicca, Reiki."

From BBC • Aug. 5, 2025

As witchcraft practice, including Wicca, became more openly accepted, occult consultants began popping up more regularly, credited or not, on shows, including “Charmed,” “Supernatural,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and even the military legal procedural “JAG.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2023

The religion made sense to her and she joined the Women of the Goddess Circle, a feminist pagan spiritual community of women in the Dianic tradition of Wicca, which focuses on women’s empowerment.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2021

By 1972 Budapest had opened an occult shop — Feminist Wicca — in Venice, where she sold books and ritual items, taught classes on the Goddess and gave tarot readings for $10 a pop.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2021

Janet was fairly sure that Reiki was Japanese, Wicca was British, and yoga came from a different kind of Indian, but her mother had no time for such trivialities.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith