Wordwyrt

mysterious

/mɪˈstɪɹiəs/mih-STIH-ree-uhs
/mɪˈstɪɹiəs/mih-STIH-ree-uhs

Meaningfull of mystery

Common meaning: hard to explain or understand

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mu-‘bind, close, shut up, enclose’source
  2. Greekμύστης‘one admitted to secret rites’
  3. Middle Englishmysteriesource
  4. Englishmystery‘something unexplained’
  5. Englishformed in English from mysterymysterious‘hard to explain or understand’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from mystery + -ous.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), MYSTERY, p.386 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app