apophenia

A1P3O1P3H4E1N1I1A1
/æpəˈfiːni.ə/

noun

The perception of or belief in connectedness among unrelated phenomena.

OriginGerman Apophänie ← Ancient Greek ἀποφαίνω →
UncommonScrabble 16
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Meanings

nounapophenia (countable and uncountable, plural apophenias)

plural apophenias

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe perception of or belief in connectedness among unrelated phenomena.

    How to recognize something in sheer noise? A striking visual example of pure and conscious apophenia was recently demonstrated by research labs at Google: […]

    2016 April, Hito Steyerl, “A Sea of Data: Apophenia and Pattern (Mis-)Recognition”, in e-flux, number 72
    1 more example

    Apophenia, Win had declared it, after due consideration and in his careful way: the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness in unrelated things. And had never, as far as Cayce knows, said another word about it.

    2004, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition, Penguin UK, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἀποφαίνω“to appear”
  2. GermanApophänie
  3. Englishapophenia

From German Apophänie, from Ancient Greek ἀποφαίνω (apophaínō, “to appear”), from ἀπο- (apo-) and φαίνω (phaínō, “appear”), coined by German psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in 1958.

More words from German, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian апофени́я
  • апофени́я (apofeníja)the perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Catalan apofènia
  • apofèniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Czech apofenie
  • apofeniethe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Danish apofeni
  • apofenithe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Dutch apofenie
  • apofeniethe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Finnish apofenia
  • apofeniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
French apophénie
  • apophéniethe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
German Apophänie
  • Apophäniethe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Greek αποφάνεια
  • αποφάνεια (apofáneia)the perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Italian apofenia
  • apofeniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Japanese アポフェニア
  • アポフェニア (apofenia)the perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Norwegian Bokmål apofeni
  • apofenithe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Polish apofenia
  • apofeniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Portuguese apofenia
  • apofeniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Russian апофени́я
  • апофени́я (apofeníja)the perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Spanish apofenia
  • apofeniathe perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Ukrainian апофенія
  • апофенія (apofenija)the perception of connectedness in unrelated phenomena
Cite this entry
APA

apophenia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apophenia

MLA

“apophenia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apophenia. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apophenia,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apophenia.

Source: apophenia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.