charm

Charm comes from Middle English charme, from Old French charme ("chant, magic spell"), which traces back to Latin carmen, meaning "song" or "incantation." It pushed out the native Old English word lybb, which had meant "drug, poison, charm."

The word entered English carrying its magical, incantation-like sense from Old French and Latin, and in doing so replaced the older native term lybb that had covered similar ground.

Charm is a near-doublet of chirm: both may descend from Old English words for a cry or calling sound (ċearm and its feminine counterpart), tracing back to Proto-Germanic *karmiz, *karm(j)az.