# hex

Pronunciation: US say "HEKS" /hɛks/; UK

## Noun

1. A magic spell, especially a curse or evil spell; also found in compounds such as hex sign.
   - Simple: A magic spell, usually one meant to bring someone bad luck.
   - _She swore her jealous neighbor had put a hex on her vegetable garden._
   - _Fans joke that a hex has kept the team from winning a championship for decades._
2. Short for hexadecimal: the base-sixteen number system, written with the digits 0–9 and the letters A–F. *(colloquial)* — Clipping of hexadecimal.
   - Simple: Short for hexadecimal: a way of writing numbers in base sixteen, using 0–9 and A–F.
   - _The error message gives the faulty address in hex._
   - _To read the file, convert the values from decimal to hex._
3. One of the six-sided spaces that make up some game boards.
   - Simple: A space with six sides on a game board.
   - _On this map, a single hex represents about ten miles of terrain._
   - _Infantry units move two hexes per turn, but only one through forest._

## Verb

4. To cast an evil spell on someone or something; to bewitch.
   - Simple: To put a bad magic spell on someone or something.
   - _Local legend holds that a spurned witch hexed the mill, and it burned down a year later._
   - _Fans joked that the rival coach had paid a witch to hex their quarterback._

## Adjective

5. Shaped like a hexagon, with six sides: said especially of hardware such as nuts, bolts, and the keys that turn them.
   - Simple: Having six sides, the way a hex nut or hex bolt does.
   - _Each leg attaches to the frame with two hex bolts._
   - _The seat clamp has a hex socket instead of a quick-release lever._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A piece of rock-climbing gear shaped like a hexagon, made to be wedged into a crack or other opening in the rock.
- (noun) A witch.
- (noun) Short for uranium hexafluoride: a uranium compound that turns into a gas when heated, used in enriching uranium for nuclear fuel.

## Origin

German hexen (compare Hexe, "witch") passed into Pennsylvania German as hexe ("to practice witchcraft"), and English picked it up from there, with the first record around 1830. The noun showed up later, in the 1850s. Related words include Dutch heks ("witch") and Old English hægtesse ("witch, hag"), and hag is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hex (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).