Harry Potter Muggle, Pure-Blood, Mudblood, And More Terms Explained

Even if you’re a die-hard Potterhead, I bet that at some point, you’ve struggled to understand all the terms used. Hands down, the most used term in all movies and books, is the muggle. All we know is that Harry Potter isn’t a muggle, but what exactly does it mean? And how do you know if a character is a Muggle, or a MudBlood, or a Pure-Blood? It’s your lucky day: we’re explaining them all! 

What is a Muggle in the Harry Potter World?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘muggle’ as an informal noun, the meaning of which is a ‘person who does not have a particular type of skill or knowledge’.

There are many theories about the origin of this word, some of which even emphasizing that it’s a marijuana slang word. However, we have the answer from J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who in an interview in 2004, mentioned that muggle was based on the word mug, which in British English means fool, gullible. Years later, the author had recommended a few American terms for muggle, with the most significant one being ‘No Maj’ (pronounced as no madge, short for no magic), but Potterheads never really replaced muggle with that.  

So, in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, of magic, witches, and wizards, the word ‘muggle’ means a person without magical powers, and is also born to non-magical parents, someone who belongs to the non-magical community. Suddenly, the phrase Don’t Let the Muggles Get You Down makes sense.

Cards Against Muggles

If you’re searching for explanations about these terms, you’re probably a big fan of Harry Potter. If you’re a big fan of HP, you should play Cards Against Muggles! This is an unofficial CAH edition with a huge deck of 1440 cards, which allows you to relive the whole Harry Potter experience and make your adult-friendly scenarios. It’s on a $9.95 discount at EditionCards, so you know what you should do! 

Other Harry Potter Terms Explained

Muggle-born: Wizard or witch, who is born to two non-magical parents, meaning they could be the first in their family to have magical abilities.

Pure-blood: Those who have no muggle, muggle-born, or squib ancestor, in other words, those who don’t have any non-magic blood.

Half-blood: Wizards or witches that have both Muggle and magical ancestors, so, they’re born to no more than one pure-blood. 

MudBlood: A derogatory term for a muggle, muggle-born, or half-blood witch or wizard.

Squib: A non-magical person, born to at least one magical parent, so, they have magical ancestors, but no magical abilities themselves.

Obscurical: A young person, witch or wizard, who has developed Obscorus, a kind of dark parasitical magical force.

Half-giant: Characters with some amount of giant blood (e.g. giant father), as well as some human blood. 

Hippogriff: Majestic beasts that have the wings, head, and front legs of a giant eagle, and the tail, body, and two legs of a horse.

What is Each Main Character in Harry Potter?

Character	Blood status	Explanation
Harry Potter	Half-blood	His mother, Lily Evans, was a muggle-born.
Hermione Granger	Muggle-born	She’s a witch born to two Muggle parents.
The Weasleys	Pure-blood	It’s the old pure-blood family.
Albus Dumbledore	Half-blood	Son of a wizard and a Muggle-born witch.
Severus Snape	Half-blood	Born to a witch and a Muggle.
Minerva McGonagall	Half-blood	Daughter of a muggle and and witch.
Rubeus Hagrid	Half-giant	Son of a wizard and giantess Fridwulfa.
Lord Voldemort	Half-blood	Pure-blood heritage from his mother, a Muggle father.
Bellatrix Lestrange	Pure-blood	Came from the Black Family.
Draco Malfoy	Pure-blood	Came from the Malfoy family.
Sirius Black	Pure-blood	Came from the Black Family.
Remus Lupin	Half-blood	Son of Lyall, a wizard, and Hope, a Muggle.
Neville Longbottom	Pure-blood	Came from a pure-blood wizarding family.
Luna Lovegood	Pure-blood	Daughter of Xenophilious and Pandora Lovegood.

Final Thoughts

For everyone who couldn’t enjoy the series fully, because they felt that they couldn’t set Harry Potter terms apart, or didn’t really understand their meanings, we’re pretty optimistic that this article will help. Besides that, we made sure to explain what each character’s blood status is, and the reason for that!