Cantrip

What it is

Cantrip is a Scots word for a spell of any kind in magic. In Scottish folklore the word covers a trick, a small spell or some minor supernatural effect, and it can also be a trick worked by a witch, or an outright sham. A Wiccan Dictionary gives the meaning plainly as 'magickal spell'. The word sits loosely across folk speech and pop culture rather than inside one organised tradition. Its best-known home today is the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, released in 1978, where a cantrip is a small spell, usually harmless, that a character casts without spending spell slots. A few, such as Fire Bolt, do damage. Well-known ones are Prestidigitation, Mending and Guidance, and the term has since spread through other games, books and media.

Where it comes from

The word is Scots, from Scotland, and its deeper root is uncertain: one suggestion ties it to canntaireachd, a Gaelic chant pipers used as a memory aid, a kind of spoken shorthand for tunes. In Scots and Scottish folklore, cantrip named a trick, a small spell or a minor supernatural effect, and that breadth of sense has stayed with it. From folklore the term passed into wider circulation through games and modern witchcraft. The turning point was Dungeons & Dragons, the tabletop role-playing game released in 1978, which took cantrip for its smallest spells; as the game spread, so did the word, reaching other fantasy games, books and media.

Who does it

In Scots folklore the word attaches to the witch: a cantrip might be a trick of hers, a small spell worked by someone with a name for magic. Modern witchcraft keeps the term in use; A Wiccan Dictionary gives the meaning simply as 'magickal spell', so a Wiccan worker may call any spell a cantrip. In fiction the caster is a professional: Harry Dresden, the mage of The Dresden Files, relies on small acts of magic of just this kind, such as a ball of light or a few sparks. In Dungeons & Dragons any spell-casting character can use them.

Compare and confuse

The word changes shape from game to game. In Dungeons & Dragons a cantrip is any small spell cast without spell slots, harmless or not. In the trading card game Magic: The Gathering it is player jargon for a spell whose extra effect is drawing a card. In the deck-builder Dominion a cantrip is an Action card that replaces itself: it draws one card and supplies the Action to play it. In The Dresden Files novels the same idea appears as a wizard's small everyday workings.

Today

Today the word lives chiefly in games and fantasy fiction. Dungeons & Dragons, hugely popular since its 1978 release, uses cantrip for small spells such as Prestidigitation, Mending and Guidance, and the gaming sense has spread into further games, books and fantasy media. Modern witchcraft holds the older sense: in Wiccan usage a cantrip is still a word for a magical spell. The original Scots flavour, meaning a trick or a minor supernatural effect, survives in folklore reference.

Questions people ask about Cantrip

Good reading and sources

• Cantrip on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data