mysterious

English

Etymology

From Middle French mystérieux. English 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 […] ‎, 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 (しんぴてきな, shinpiteki na), ミステリアスな (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