Wizardry is magic, or remarkable skill in some field. Technical wizardry, financial wizardry, pure wizardry.
The figurative use is the commoner and is admiring with a hint of suspicion, since financial wizardry is usually mentioned shortly before something collapses. Of magic it is the practice rather than one spell.
1nounwizardryMagic, or remarkable skill in some field.
“The film's special effects are a piece of technical wizardry.”
wizardry is a skill.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyd-
Middle English
wysard
English
wizard
English, today
wizardry
From wizard + -ry. wizard comes from Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise + -ard. A uniquely medieval English word with no known morphologically exact cognates in other Germanic languages; did not gain distinct sense of "occultist, magic user" (as opposed to a philosopher or sage) until 1500s, aligning roughly with the starting English Renaissance. However, via weyd- cognate with Proto-Celtic druwits (whence English druid), Proto-Slavic vědьma (Polish wiedźma, Russian ве́дьма), Russian веду́н. The sense of "old (male) virgin" is from a Japanese Internet meme in which virgins who are typically friendless, shy outcasts and loners who don't fit in anywhere legendarily gain magical powers upon reaching 30 years of age; popularized ultimately by 4chan and adjacent online incel spaces.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA