enigma

Meanings

1. Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
2. A riddle, or a difficult problem.
3. Riddles and puzzles, collectively.
4. Mysteriousness; obscurity; a lack of clarity.
5. A style of literature characterized by obscurity and hints of transcendental meaning.
6. Alternative letter-case form of Enigma.
7. A protein with three LIM domains (a conserved cysteine- and histidine-rich structure of two adjacent zinc fingers) at the C terminus that regulates protein phosphorylation.
8. The Talaud kingfisher, Todiramphus enigma.
9. Any of species of Oedaleonotus enigma of grasshoppers.
10. Any of species of Heliothis enigma of rare moths.

1. A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages.

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), being derived itself from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, speaking in riddles”).