Charming
adjectivePleasant and attractive in a way that delights or wins people over.
How to spell charming
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce charming
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does charming mean?
- adjectivePleasant and attractive in a way that delights or wins people over.
Charming in a sentence
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The couple bought a charming cottage near the coast.
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His charming manner put the nervous interviewees at ease.
Where does charming come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word traces back to the Latin carmen, which meant a 'song', a 'chant', or a magical 'incantation', the sort of verse a person would recite to cast a spell. From carmen came the verb carminare, and through Old French this became charmer, meaning 'to enchant' or 'to bewitch'. English took in the verb 'charm' during the 1300s with its original magical force, the idea of casting a literal spell over someone. From that verb the participle 'charming' grew, and over the following centuries its sense softened from supernatural enchantment to the gentler, social meaning of being delightful and winning. The link to song and spell-casting is a useful reminder that the word keeps the plain 'charm' inside it, simply adding -ing.
How the word is built
- charm (from Latin carmen: song, incantation)
- -ing (adjective/participle suffix)
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