mysterious

English

Etymology

From Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium +‎ -ous. By surface analysis, mystery +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, /məˈstɪɹi.əs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəs

Adjective

mysterious (comparative more mysterious, superlative most mysterious)

1. Of unknown origin.

   Synonym: untraceable

   He received a mysterious phone call this morning.

2. Having unknown qualities.

   Synonyms: esoteric, uncertain, undefined; see also Thesaurus:mysterious

   Hyponyms: anonymous, faceless, unexplored, unnamed, long-mysterious

   Our boss is a mysterious man who hardly ever meets with us.

   • 1780, William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkneſs”, in Twenty-ſix Letters on Religious Subjects […] To which are added Hymns […] ‎^[1], 4th edition, page 252:

     God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.

3. Difficult to understand.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   Why he left without saying goodbye is quite mysterious.

4. Deliberately evasive or enigmatic.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:covert

   Stop being mysterious and just tell me what you want.

Derived terms

• God works in mysterious ways
• mysteriously
• mysteriousness
• the Lord works in mysterious ways

Related terms

• mystery

Translations

of unknown origin

• Afrikaans: misterieus
• Albanian: misterioz (sq)
• Arabic: غَامِض (ḡāmiḍ)
• Armenian: խորհրդավոր (hy) (xorhrdavor), առեղծվածային (hy) (aṙeġcvacayin), հանելուկային (hy) (hanelukayin)
• Asturian: misteriosu
• Azerbaijani: müəmmalı (az), əsrarəngiz, əsrarlı
• Basque: misteriotsu, misteriozko
• Belarusian: таямні́чы (tajamníčy)
• Bulgarian: таи́нствен (taínstven)
• Catalan: misteriós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 神奇 (zh-min-nan) (sîn-kî)

  Mandarin: 神秘 (zh) (shénmì)

• Czech: tajemný (cs) m, záhadný (cs) m
• Dutch: geheimzinnig (nl), mysterieus (nl)
• Esperanto: mistera
• Estonian: salapärane
• Finnish: salaperäinen (fi), mystinen (fi), outo (fi)
• French: mystérieux (fr)
• Galician: misterioso
• Georgian: ფარული (paruli), იდუმალი (idumali)
• German: mysteriös (de)
• Greek: μυστήριος (el) (mystírios)
• Greenlandic: paasissaalluanngilaq
• Hebrew: מִסְתּוֹרִי
• Hindi: रहस्यपूर्ण (rahasyapūrṇ), गूढ (gūḍh)
• Hungarian: titokzatos (hu), rejtelmes (hu), rejtélyes (hu)
• Ido: misterioza (io)
• Indonesian: misterius (id)
• Irish: rúndiamhair
• Italian: misterioso (it), ignoto (it) m
• Japanese: 神秘的な (ja) (しんぴてきな, shinpiteki na), ミステリアスな (ja) (misuteriasu na), 不思議な (ja) (ふしぎな, fushigi na)
• Khmer: អាថ៌កំបាំង (ʼaat kɑmbang)
• Korean: 신비(神秘)하다 (ko) (sinbihada)
• Latin: arcanus, mysterius, obscurus (la), tectus (la), mysticus, secretus, reconditus
• Latvian: mīklains, noslēpumains
• Lithuanian: paslaptingas
• Malay: penuh misteri
• Maori: porehu
• Mongolian: нууц далд (nuuc dald)
• Norman: mystéthieux
• Occitan: misteriós (oc)
• Persian: مبهم (fa) (mobham), مرموز (fa) (marmuz)
• Polish: tajemniczy (pl)
• Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
• Romanian: misterios (ro)
• Russian: таи́нственный (ru) (taínstvennyj), зага́дочный (ru) (zagádočnyj)
• Sanskrit: गूढ (sa) (gūḍhá)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìomhair
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тајанствен, загонетан

  Roman: tajanstven (sh), zagonetan (sh)

• Slovak: tajomný, záhadný
• Slovene: skrivnosten (sl)
• Spanish: misterioso (es)
• Swahili: kidube
• Swedish: mystisk (sv)
• Tagalog: katakataka
• Thai: ลี้ลับ (lée láp)
• Tibetan: མགོ་འཐོམ་ཡག (mgo 'thom yag)
• Turkish: gizemli (tr), esrarlı (tr)
• Turkmen: syrly
• Ukrainian: таємни́чий (tajemnýčyj)
• Vietnamese: thần bí (vi) (神秘)
• Welsh: cyfriniol (cy), rhiniol
• Yiddish: מיסטעריעז (misteryez)

having unknown qualities

• Bulgarian: тайнствен (bg) (tajnstven)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: tajuplný
• Dutch: geheimzinnig (nl), raadselachtig (nl), mysterieus (nl)
• Finnish: salaperäinen (fi), mystinen (fi)
• Georgian: იდუმალი (idumali)
• German: rätselhaft (de)
• Ido: misterioza (io)
• Irish: rúnda
• Latin: arcanus, secretus, occultus, reconditus, mysticus, occultus, tectus (la), obscurus (la)
• Latvian: noslēpumains, mīklains
• Malay: penuh misteri
• Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
• Russian: неизве́стный (ru) (neizvéstnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìomhair

difficult to understand

• Bulgarian: загадъчен (bg) (zagadǎčen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: vaikeaselkoinen (fi)
• Maori: pōkīkī
• Norwegian: mystiskt (literally), mystiskt (literally)

  Bokmål: mystisk

  Nynorsk: mystisk

• Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
• Russian: непостижи́мый (ru) (nepostižímyj), непоня́тный (ru) (neponjátnyj)

deliberately evasive or enigmatic

• Bulgarian: мистериозен (bg) (misteriozen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: arvoituksellinen (fi)
• Maori: porehu, pōkīkī
• Polish: zagadkowy (pl)
• Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
• Russian: зага́дочный (ru) (zagádočnyj), таи́нственный (ru) (taínstvennyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Faroese: ^{(please verify)} dularfullur
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} mystisk