Esoteric

How to spell esoteric

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce esoteric

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does esoteric mean?

1. adjectiveUnderstood by or intended for only a small group with specialised knowledge.

Esoteric in a sentence

• The lecture was so esoteric that only a handful of specialists followed it.

• He collects esoteric books on medieval coin minting that few people have ever heard of.

Where does esoteric come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the Greek esōterikos, meaning 'belonging to the inner circle'. It was built on esōterō, a comparative form of esō, which simply meant 'within' or 'inner', itself related to eis, meaning 'into'. In the ancient philosophical schools the term marked the teachings reserved for trusted initiates, as opposed to the exoteric lessons offered to the general public, and stories about Pythagoras and Aristotle keeping such inner doctrines fuelled the sense of secret, specialised knowledge. English adopted the word in the middle of the 1600s, carrying that flavour of hidden or hard-to-grasp learning. The spelling trap lies in the quiet vowels: it is spelled with three e's and a single s, with the unstressed second syllable sounding like a faint 'uh' rather than the 'o' that writers sometimes expect.

How the word is built

• eso- (from Greek esō: within, inner)
• -ter (comparative marker)
• -ic (adjective suffix)