Other forms: enchantresses
An enchantress is a woman who works magic, or who charms people as though she did. It belongs to fairy tales, myths and older fiction, and it is used almost nowhere else.
The -ess ending marks it as one of a set of feminine forms that English has been quietly retiring — actress, waitress, authoress — and enchantress survives because its context is old stories rather than modern jobs. The male form is enchanter, and the neutral options are magician, sorcerer and witch, which carries its own weight. In figurative use, calling a woman an enchantress means she is captivating, and it is deliberately archaic and slightly arch.
1nounenchantressA woman who works magic, in stories.
“The enchantress turns the prince into a bear.”
2nouncharmsA woman who charms and fascinates people.
“She was the enchantress of that whole circle for a decade.”
enchantress is a woman who works magic.
Latin incantare meant to sing a spell over something — in- plus cantare, to sing, the same verb behind chant. To enchant somebody was to sing at them until they were bound, and incantation and enchant are the same word arriving twice.
Old French
enchanteresse
Middle English
enchaunteresse
English, today
enchantress
From Middle English enchaunteresse, from Old French enchanteresse; equivalent to enchanter + ess.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA