hocus-pocus
/ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/
"hocus-pocus" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hocus-pocus” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hocus-pocus · hocus-pocus · English
hocus-pocus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hocus-pocus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hocus-pocus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hocus-pocus is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto.".
No misspelling variants are generated for hocus-pocus in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: The interjection and noun are derived from pseudo-Latin magical incantations used by conjurers (formerly called “jugglers”) such as “hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo” (by a particular 17th-century conjurer who allegedly adopted the moniker… The correct English form is hocus-pocus, spelled H-O-C-U-S---P-O-C-U-S.
Definition
- 1A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto.
Etymology
The interjection and noun are derived from pseudo-Latin magical incantations used by conjurers (formerly called “jugglers”) such as “hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo” (by a particular 17th-century conjurer who allegedly adopted the moniker Hocus Pocus) and “hax pax max Deus adimax”. The suggestion that the term is a corruption of words from the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, “hoc est enim corpus meum” (“this is my [i.e., Jesus’s] body”), was made in a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson (1630–1694), but is not generally accepted. The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.