🇨🇳Chinese Source WordCode: ZH

魔法

Pronunciation / Transliteration: Mófǎ

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Hocus-pocus/ˈhoʊ.kəsˌpoʊ.kəs/
nounverbCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #14200 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇨🇳 Example Sentence in Chinese:

"魔术师在兔子出现时喊道'魔法'。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A phrase used by magicians to signify the performance of a trick or illusion.

    "The magician waved his wand and exclaimed 'Hocus Pocus!' as the rabbit appeared from the hat."
  2. 2

    A term used to describe nonsense or meaningless talk.

    "The politician's speech was filled with hocus pocus that failed to address the real issues."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The origin is traditionally traced to a pseudo-Latin formula used by magicians, possibly a corruption of the Catholic Eucharistic phrase 'Hoc est enim corpus meum' (This is my body). It emerged in the early 17th century in England as a moniker for conjurers and magicians before evolving to mean trickery or meaningless gibberish.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Hocus-pocus"?

10 Global Lexicons: How "Hocus-pocus" is said worldwide

Click any language below to open its dedicated Language to English dictionary page with native script & transliteration

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Hocus-pocus"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Hocus-pocus" Synonym Map