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Witchmark

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A physical sign—birthmark, mole, or scar—believed to identify a witch, often interpreted as a seal of demonic pact or innate magical affinity.

Detailed Definition
Witchmarks in poetry signify the body as text, inscribed by fate or persecution. They appear in Gothic and feminist verse as symbols of otherness made visible, where society reads difference as guilt, and the skin becomes a battlefield of belief.
Example
Example in poetry:
Witchmark|In a colonial trial ballad: “They called it Witchmark—a birthmark shaped like a key—yet she said it was the mark of her mother’s love, left when she kissed her newborn’s brow”;
Additional Notes
Witchmark is a physical sign—birthmark, mole, or scar—believed to identify a witch, often interpreted as a seal of demonic pact or innate power. In folklore, it was used to justify persecution. In poetry, it represents the body as text, the stigma of difference, and the violence of labeling. Poets use it to explore identity, persecution, and the reclaiming of the marked body as sacred.
Also Known As
Witch’s Mark Mark of the Witch
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