witch's milk

noun

Milk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies.

Meanings

nounwitch's milk (uncountable)
  1. uncountableMilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies.

    Left alone, witch's milk disappears in about 20 days.

    2005, Judith Lauwers, Anna Swisher, Counseling the Nursing Mother: A Lactation Consultant's Guide, Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 119

    Synonyms: neonatal milk

Synonyms & antonyms

nounMilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies.

Origin

From the belief in European folklore that such milk was a source of nourishment for witches' familiars.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 巫乳
  • 巫乳 (mou⁴ jyu⁵)milk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Danish heksemælk
  • heksemælkmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Dutch heksenmelk
  • heksenmelkmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
German Hexenmilch
  • Hexenmilchmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Japanese 魔乳, 鬼乳
  • 魔乳 (manyū)milk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
  • 鬼乳milk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
  • 奇乳 (kinyū)milk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Norwegian Bokmål heksemelk
  • heksemelkmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Polish mleko czarownic
  • mleko czarownicmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Swedish häxmjölk
  • häxmjölkmilk secreted from the breasts of newborn babies
Cite this entry
APA

witch's milk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witch's%20milk

MLA

“witch's milk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witch's%20milk. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “witch's milk,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witch's%20milk.

Source: witch's milk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.