talisman

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The Word of the Day for June 8 is:

talisman   \TAL-iss-mun\   noun
    *1 : an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune
     2 : something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects

Example sentence:
     When the pop quiz was announced, Sam reached for his lucky penny, hoping 
the talisman would bring him success.

Did you know?
     Do you believe in lucky charms? Language reflects the fact that many 
people do. We might have borrowed "talisman" from French, Spanish, or Italian; 
all three include similar-looking words for a lucky charm. Those three terms 
derive from a single Arabic word for a charm, "tilsam." "Tilsam" in turn can be 
traced to the ancient Greek verb "talein," which means "to initiate into the 
mysteries."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.