linguistic:voice_change, stylistic:tone, linguistic:translation, structural:summarization
Wiccan definition of "Witchcraft"

When the religion first came to public attention, its followers commonly called it "Witchcraft". Gerald Gardner —the man regarded as the "Father of Wicca"—referred to it as the "Craft of the Wise", "Witchcraft", and "the Witch-cult " during the 1950s. Gardner believed in the theory that persecuted witches had actually been followers of a surviving pagan religion, but this theory has now been proven wrong. There is no evidence that he ever called it "Wicca", although he did refer to its community of followers as "the Wica" (with one c). As a name for the religion, "Wicca" developed in Britain during the 1960s. It is not known who first used this name for the religion, although one possibility is that it might have been Gardner's rival Charles Cardell, who was calling it the "Craft of the Wiccens" by 1958. The first recorded use of the name "Wicca" was in 1962, and it had been popularised to the extent that several British practitioners founded a newsletter called The Wiccan in 1968.

Although pronounced differently, the Modern English term "Wicca" is derived from the Old English wicca and wicce, the masculine and feminine term for witch, respectively, that was used in Anglo-Saxon England. By adopting it for modern usage, Wiccans were both symbolically linking themselves to the ancient, pre-Christian past, and adopting a self-designation that would be less controversial than "Witchcraft". The scholar of religion and Wiccan priestess Joanne Pearson noted that while "the words 'witch' and 'wicca' are therefore linked etymologically, they are used to emphasize different things today".

In early sources, "Wicca" referred to the whole of the religion rather than to a specific tradition. In following decades, members of certain traditions – those known as British Traditional Wicca – began claiming that only they should be called "Wiccan", and that other traditions must not use it. From the late 1980s onwards, various books propagating Wicca were published that again used the former, broader definition of the word. Thus, by the 1980s, there were two competing definitions of the word "Wicca" in use among the Pagan and esoteric communities, one broad and inclusive, the other narrow and exclusionary. Among scholars of Pagan studies, it is the older, broader, inclusive meaning which is preferred.

Alongside "Wicca", some practitioners still call the religion "Witchcraft" or "the Craft". Using the word "Witchcraft" in this context can result in confusion with other, non-religious meanings of "witchcraft" as well as other religions—such as Satanism and Luciferianism —whose practitioners also sometimes describe themselves as "Witches". Another term sometimes used as a synonym for "Wicca" is "Pagan witchcraft", although there are also other forms of modern Paganism—such as types of Heathenry —which also use the term "Pagan witchcraft". From the 1990s onward, various Wiccans began describing themselves as " Traditional Witches ", although this term was also employed by practitioners of other magico-religious traditions like Luciferianism. In some popular culture, such as television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, the word "Wicca" has been used as a synonym for witchcraft more generally, including in non-religious and non-Pagan forms.