English Explanatory Dictionary

arcane

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Understood by only a few.
  2. Obscure, mysterious.
  3. Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge to understand.
  4. Extremely old (e.g. interpretation or knowledge), and possibly irrelevant.

Pronunciation

/ɑɹˈkeɪn/ en-us-arcane.ogg

Word forms

arcane more arcane most arcane

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arcānus (“hidden, secret”), from arceō (“to shut up, enclose”); cognate with Latin arca (“a chest”).

Synonyms

arcane dark enigmatic esoteric mystic obscure occult recondite clandestine

Antonyms

accessible exoteric irrecondite nonesoteric open well-known mundane

Related words

arcana arculus

Derived words

arcanely arcaneness arcanist arcanity arcanology superarcane
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