Mystery
nounSomething that is difficult or impossible to explain or understand.
How to spell mystery
7 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce mystery
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does mystery mean?
- nounSomething that is difficult or impossible to explain or understand.
Mystery in a sentence
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The cause of the power failure remains a complete mystery.
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How the keys ended up in the freezer is a mystery to everyone.
Where does mystery come from?
Language of origin: Greek
This word traces back to the ancient Greek mysterion, which meant a secret rite or a hidden truth revealed only to those initiated into it. The Greek root muein literally meant 'to close the eyes or lips', the gesture of keeping a secret, which is why the earliest sense carried a strong flavour of things deliberately concealed. The term passed into Latin as mysterium and then into English through Old French during the 1300s, at first describing the sacred secrets of religion. Over time the meaning broadened from holy secrets to anything that is puzzling or unexplained. The same Greek root also gives us 'mystic' and 'mystical', and remembering that family helps fix the tricky 'y' that sits where many writers expect an 'i'.
How the word is built
- myster- (from Greek mysterion: secret rite, hidden thing)
- -y (noun suffix)
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