obeah
/ˈəʊbɪə/
"obeah" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obeah” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
Corpus desk
Index EN-obeah · obeah · English
obeah · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" 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 | obeah |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈəʊbɪə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “obeah” in English
Rare enough to double-check
obeah is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈəʊbɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
obeah has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia. The correct English form is obeah, spelled O-B-E-A-H.
Definition
- 1A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
- 2A magician or witch doctor of the magic craft.
- 3A spell performed in the practice of the magic craft; an item associated with such a spell.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how obeah appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Although lacking a self-perpetuating institutional structure, Obeah was a crucial element of Afro-Caribbean religions everywhere from Suriname's Maroon societies (communities of runaway slaves) to the Leeward Islands' slave societies.
However, quite often it is also applied to protect from obeah spells which the client feels himself or herself to be suffering from. Since obeah can also cast protective spells (e.g., against other obeah spells), it is not entirely correct to dismiss it as an evil practice.
Etymology
Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia.
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.