--- description: The Harry Potter star says it isn't that weird title: Daniel Radcliffe: The American Word for Muggle Makes 'Perfect Sense' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta651c6c11919a22e/69885b14e53aba88224dea08/daniel-radcliffe1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Daniel Radcliffe Thinks the American Word for Muggle Makes 'Perfect Sense' by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2015 8:28 PM CUT  Daniel Radcliffe at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 11, 2015. Daniel Radcliffe at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 11, 2015.Richard Shotwell—Invision/AP by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2015 8:28 PM CUT Daniel Radcliffe has chimed in on a piece of news about the upcoming Harry Potter prequel film that has left [fans in a tizzy](http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/j-k-rowling-revealed-the-american-word-for-muggle-and-people-are-furious-about-it "undefined"). J.K. Rowling revealed to [_Entertainment Weekly_](http://time.com/4099501/jk-rowling-harry-potter-spinoff-fantastic-beasts/ "undefined") that instead of using the word ‘Muggle,’ American wizards use the word “No-Maj” (pronounced ‘no madge’ as in ‘no magic) to refer to someone who isn’t a wizard. “I have no strong opinions about this,” he told _Mashable_. “We have different words in England, so it makes perfect sense that there should be a different word for it in America.” Radcliffe said he thinks no one realizes how the word is pronounced yet, since footage from the film hasn’t been released. “I guess part of the new prequel is set here, or they come here, so I’m excited to see what they do with that,” he said, referencing New York, where he was promoting his new film _Victor Frankenstein_ with James McAvoy. The movie, called _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, hits theaters in November 2016, and follows “magizoologist” Newt Scamander around Manhattan in the 1920s. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/"},"headline":"Daniel Radcliffe Thinks the American Word for Muggle Makes 'Perfect Sense'","datePublished":"2015-11-10T20:28:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:47.483Z","description":"The Chosen One has spoken","url":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/","keywords":["movies","Newsfeed","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta651c6c11919a22e/69885b14e53aba88224dea08/daniel-radcliffe1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta651c6c11919a22e/69885b14e53aba88224dea08/daniel-radcliffe1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Daniel Radcliffe at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 11, 2015.","caption":"Daniel Radcliffe at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 11, 2015.","creditText":"Richard Shotwell—Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/","name":"Daniel Radcliffe Thinks the American Word for Muggle Makes 'Perfect Sense'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Harry Potter Could've Attended An American Wizarding School","description":"The","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ivWBNS2z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-10T17:38:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ivWBNS2z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/","duration":"PT2M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4106983/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-american-muggle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```