Meanings
comparative more mysterious · superlative most mysterious
- Having unknown qualities.
Our boss is a mysterious man who hardly ever meets with us.
1 more example
God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.
1780, William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkneſs”, in Twenty-ſix Letters on Religious Subjects […] To which are added Hymns […] , 4th edition, page 252 - Difficult to understand.
Why he left without saying goodbye is quite mysterious.
1 more example
Buttressed by clothes, walls and objects, there was the bourgeois family, the most mysterious institution of the age.
1975, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital. 1848-1875, published 1995, page 278Synonyms: abstruse, Chinese, dense, enigmatic, fathomless, bottomless, Greek, inapprehensible
- Deliberately evasive or enigmatic.
Stop being mysterious and just tell me what you want.
Synonyms: abstruse, behind the scenes, catlike, backroom, backstairs, stealth, clandestine, cloak-and-dagger
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf unknown origin.
adjectiveDifficult to understand.
adjectiveDeliberately evasive or enigmatic.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveof an obscure nature
adjectivehaving an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchmystérieux
- Middle English*misterius
- Englishmysterious
From Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium + -ous. By surface analysis, mystery + -ous.
More words from Middle English, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans misterieus
- misterieusof unknown origin
Arabic غَامِض
- غَامِض (ḡāmiḍ)of unknown origin
Basque misteriotsu, misteriozko
- misteriotsuof unknown origin
- misteriozkoof unknown origin
Bulgarian таи́нствен, тайнствен
- таи́нствен (taínstven)of unknown origin
- тайнствен (tajnstven)having unknown qualities
- загадъчен (zagadăčen)difficult to understand
- мистериозен (misteriozen)deliberately evasive or enigmatic
Catalan misteriós
- misteriósof unknown origin
Chinese Mandarin 神秘, 來源不明的 /来源不明的
- 神秘 (shénmì)of unknown origin
- 來源不明的 /来源不明的 (láiyuán bùmíng de)of unknown origin
- 神秘 (shénmì)having unknown qualities
- 難以理解的 /难以理解的 (nányǐ lǐjiě de)difficult to understand
- 費解的 /费解的 (fèijiě de)difficult to understand
- 晦澀的 /晦涩的 (huìsè de)difficult to understand
- 故弄玄虛的 /故弄玄虚的 (gùnòngxuánxū de)deliberately evasive or enigmatic
Czech tajemný, záhadný
- tajemnýof unknown origin
- záhadnýof unknown origin
- tajuplnýhaving unknown qualities
Dutch geheimzinnig, mysterieus
- geheimzinnigof unknown origin
- mysterieusof unknown origin
- geheimzinnighaving unknown qualities
- raadselachtighaving unknown qualities
- mysterieushaving unknown qualities
Esperanto mistera
- misteraof unknown origin
Estonian salapärane
- salapäraneof unknown origin
Finnish salaperäinen, mystinen
- salaperäinenof unknown origin
- mystinenof unknown origin
- outoof unknown origin
- salaperäinenhaving unknown qualities
- mystinenhaving unknown qualities
- vaikeaselkoinendifficult to understand
- arvoituksellinendeliberately evasive or enigmatic
French mystérieux
- mystérieuxof unknown origin
German mysteriös, rätselhaft
- mysteriösof unknown origin
- rätselhafthaving unknown qualities
Greek μυστήριος
- μυστήριος (mystírios)of unknown origin
Hebrew מִסְתּוֹרִי
- מִסְתּוֹרִיof unknown origin
Hindi रहस्यपूर्ण, गूढ
- रहस्यपूर्ण (rahasyapūrṇ)of unknown origin
- गूढ (gūḍh)of unknown origin
Hungarian titokzatos, rejtelmes
- titokzatosof unknown origin
- rejtelmesof unknown origin
- rejtélyesof unknown origin
Indonesian misterius
- misteriusof unknown origin
Irish rúndiamhair, rúnda
- rúndiamhairof unknown origin
- rúndahaving unknown qualities
Italian misterioso, ignoto
- misteriosoof unknown origin
- ignotoof unknown origin
Japanese 神秘的な, ミステリアスな
- 神秘的な (shinpiteki na)of unknown origin
- ミステリアスな (misuteriasu na)of unknown origin
- 不思議な (fushigi na)of unknown origin
Korean 신비(神秘)하다
- 신비(神秘)하다 (sinbihada)of unknown origin
Latin arcanus, mysterius
- arcanusof unknown origin
- mysteriusof unknown origin
- obscurusof unknown origin
- tectusof unknown origin
- mysticusof unknown origin
- secretusof unknown origin
- reconditusof unknown origin
- arcanushaving unknown qualities
- secretushaving unknown qualities
- occultushaving unknown qualities
- reconditushaving unknown qualities
- mysticushaving unknown qualities
Latvian mīklains, noslēpumains
- mīklainsof unknown origin
- noslēpumainsof unknown origin
- noslēpumainshaving unknown qualities
- mīklainshaving unknown qualities
Lithuanian paslaptingas
- paslaptingasof unknown origin
Malay penuh misteri, penuh misteri
- penuh misteriof unknown origin
- penuh misterihaving unknown qualities
Māori porehu, pōkīkī
- porehuof unknown origin
- pōkīkīdifficult to understand
- porehudeliberately evasive or enigmatic
- pōkīkīdeliberately evasive or enigmatic
Norwegian mystiskt
- mystisktdifficult to understand
Norwegian Bokmål mystisk
- mystiskdifficult to understand
Persian مبهم, مرموز
- مبهم (mobham)of unknown origin
- مرموز (marmuz)of unknown origin
Polish tajemniczy, tajemniczy
- tajemniczyof unknown origin
- tajemniczyhaving unknown qualities
- zagadkowydifficult to understand
- zagadkowydeliberately evasive or enigmatic
Portuguese misterioso, misterioso
- misteriosoof unknown origin
- misteriosohaving unknown qualities
- misteriosodifficult to understand
- misteriosodeliberately evasive or enigmatic
Romanian misterios
- misteriosof unknown origin
Russian таи́нственный, зага́дочный
- таи́нственный (taínstvennyj)of unknown origin
- зага́дочный (zagádočnyj)of unknown origin
- неизве́стный (neizvéstnyj)having unknown qualities
- непостижи́мый (nepostižímyj)difficult to understand
- непоня́тный (neponjátnyj)difficult to understand
- зага́дочный (zagádočnyj)deliberately evasive or enigmatic
- таи́нственный (taínstvennyj)deliberately evasive or enigmatic
Scottish Gaelic dìomhair, dìomhair
- dìomhairof unknown origin
- dìomhairhaving unknown qualities
Slovak tajomný, záhadný
- tajomnýof unknown origin
- záhadnýof unknown origin
Spanish misterioso
- misteriosoof unknown origin
Swahili kidube
- kidubeof unknown origin
Swedish mystisk
- mystiskof unknown origin
Tagalog katakataka
- katakatakaof unknown origin
Thai ลี้ลับ
- ลี้ลับ (lée láp)of unknown origin
Turkish gizemli, esrarlı
- gizemliof unknown origin
- esrarlıof unknown origin
Ukrainian таємни́чий
- таємни́чий (tajemnýčyj)of unknown origin
Vietnamese thần bí
- thần bíof unknown origin
Welsh cyfriniol, rhiniol
- cyfriniolof unknown origin
- rhiniolof unknown origin
Yiddish מיסטעריעז
- מיסטעריעז (misteryez)of unknown origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with mysterious
All rhymes →Cite this entry
mysterious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mysterious
“mysterious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mysterious. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mysterious,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mysterious.
Source: mysterious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.