186: jinx Jun 12, 2015

The fear of jinxing something is felt by many people, superstitious or not at this point in time. The word 'jinx' is an early 20th century word of U.S. origin; and is probably a variant spelling of jynx [wryneck], which is an Old World bird of the woodpecker family, with brown camouflaged plumage and a habit of twisting and writhing the neck when disturbed. The correlation between this bird and the modern understanding of jinx may seem nonexistent, but this bird was used in witchcraft.