1. An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
2. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence

Word Origin & History

fetish 1610s, fatisso, from Port. fetiço “charm, sorcery,” originally feitiço “made artfully, artificial,” from L. facticius “made by art,” from facere “to make” (see factitious). L. facticius in Sp. has become hechizo “magic, witchcraft, sorcery.” Probably introduced
by Port. sailors and traders as a name for charms and talismans worshipped by the inhabitants of the Guinea coast of Africa. Popularized in anthropology by C. de Brosses’ Le Culte des Dieux Fétiches (1760), which influenced the word’s spelling in English (Fr. fétiche, also from the Port. word). Figurative sense of “something irrationally revered” is Amer.Eng. 1837. For sexual sense, see fetishism.

[source: freedictionary.com and dictionary.com]

The above definition is the one that we are using here. Of course there are other types of fetishes. Whatever the type of fetish, most of them seem to have an aura of mystery about them, spiritual or not.

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