incant

First attested in 1546; borrowed from Latin incantō. Doublet of enchant and incantate.

• IPA^(key): /ɪŋˈkænt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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incant (third-person singular simple present incants, present participle incanting, simple past and past participle incanted)

1. (rare) To state solemnly, to chant.
2. To recite an incantation.
   • 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 378:

     They now remember a tall man wrapped in a cloak [...] incanting to himself as he crossed the road.

   • 2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “Did you speak, child?” she whispered, as if she was a witch incanting a spell.

• Cantin, cannit, tannic, tin can