mysterious

English

Etymology

From Middle French mystérieux. English mystery +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
(General American) IPA^(key): /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, /məˈstɪɹi.əs/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəs

Adjective

mysterious (comparative more mysterious, superlative most mysterious)

Of unknown origin.
Synonym: untraceable

He received a mysterious phone call this morning.
Having unknown qualities.
Synonyms: esoteric, uncertain, undefined; see also Thesaurus:mysterious

Hyponyms: anonymous, faceless, unexplored, unnamed, long-mysterious

Our boss is a mysterious man who hardly ever meets with us.
- 1780, William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkneſs”, in Twenty-ſix Letters on Religious Subjects […] To which are added Hymns […] ‎^[1], 4th edition, page 252:
  God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.
Difficult to understand.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:incomprehensible

Why he left without saying goodbye is quite mysterious.
Deliberately evasive or enigmatic.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:covert

Stop being mysterious and just tell me what you want.

Derived terms

Related terms

mystery

Translations

of unknown origin

Afrikaans: misterieus
Albanian: misterioz (sq)
Arabic: غَامِض (ḡāmiḍ)
Armenian: խորհրդավոր (hy) (xorhrdavor), առեղծվածային (hy) (aṙeġcvacayin), հանելուկային (hy) (hanelukayin)
Asturian: misteriosu
Azerbaijani: müəmmalı (az), əsrarəngiz, əsrarlı
Basque: misteriotsu, misteriozko
Belarusian: таямні́чы (tajamníčy)
Bulgarian: таи́нствен (taínstven)
Catalan: misteriós (ca)
Chinese:
Hokkien: 神奇 (zh-min-nan) (sîn-kî)

Mandarin: 神秘 (zh) (shénmì)
Czech: tajemný (cs) m, záhadný (cs) m
Dutch: geheimzinnig (nl), mysterieus (nl)
Esperanto: mistera
Estonian: salapärane
Finnish: salaperäinen (fi), mystinen (fi), outo (fi)
French: mystérieux (fr)
Galician: misterioso
Georgian: ფარული (paruli), იდუმალი (idumali)
German: mysteriös (de)
Greek: μυστήριος (el) (mystírios)
Greenlandic: paasissaalluanngilaq
Hebrew: מִסְתּוֹרִי
Hindi: रहस्यपूर्ण (rahasyapūrṇ), गूढ (gūḍh)
Hungarian: titokzatos (hu), rejtelmes (hu), rejtélyes (hu)
Ido: misterioza (io)
Indonesian: misterius (id)
Irish: rúndiamhair
Italian: misterioso (it), ignoto (it) m
Japanese: 神秘的な (ja) (しんぴてきな, shinpiteki na), ミステリアスな (ja) (misuteriasu na), 不思議な (ja) (ふしぎな, fushigi na)
Khmer: អាថ៌កំបាំង (ʼaat kɑmbang)
Korean: 신비(神秘)하다 (ko) (sinbihada)
Latin: arcanus, mysterius, obscurus (la), tectus (la), mysticus, secretus, reconditus
Latvian: mīklains, noslēpumains
Lithuanian: paslaptingas
Malay: penuh misteri
Maori: porehu
Mongolian: нууц далд (nuuc dald)
Norman: mystéthieux
Occitan: misteriós (oc)
Persian: مبهم (fa) (mobham), مرموز (fa) (marmuz)
Polish: tajemniczy (pl)
Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
Romanian: misterios (ro)
Russian: таи́нственный (ru) (taínstvennyj), зага́дочный (ru) (zagádočnyj)
Sanskrit: गूढ (sa) (gūḍhá)
Scottish Gaelic: dìomhair
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тајанствен, загонетан

Roman: tajanstven (sh), zagonetan (sh)
Slovak: tajomný, záhadný
Slovene: skrivnosten (sl)
Spanish: misterioso (es)
Swahili: kidube
Swedish: mystisk (sv)
Tagalog: katakataka
Thai: ลี้ลับ (lée láp)
Tibetan: མགོ་འཐོམ་ཡག (mgo 'thom yag)
Turkish: gizemli (tr), esrarlı (tr)
Turkmen: syrly
Ukrainian: таємни́чий (tajemnýčyj)
Vietnamese: thần bí (vi) (神秘)
Welsh: cyfriniol (cy), rhiniol
Yiddish: מיסטעריעז (misteryez)

having unknown qualities

Bulgarian: тайнствен (bg) (tajnstven)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: tajuplný
Dutch: geheimzinnig (nl), raadselachtig (nl), mysterieus (nl)
Finnish: salaperäinen (fi), mystinen (fi)
Georgian: იდუმალი (idumali)
German: rätselhaft (de)
Ido: misterioza (io)
Irish: rúnda
Latin: arcanus, secretus, occultus, reconditus, mysticus, occultus, tectus (la), obscurus (la)
Latvian: noslēpumains, mīklains
Malay: penuh misteri
Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
Russian: неизве́стный (ru) (neizvéstnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: dìomhair

difficult to understand

Bulgarian: загадъчен (bg) (zagadǎčen)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: vaikeaselkoinen (fi)
Maori: pōkīkī
Norwegian: mystiskt (literally), mystiskt (literally)
Bokmål: mystisk

Nynorsk: mystisk
Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
Russian: непостижи́мый (ru) (nepostižímyj), непоня́тный (ru) (neponjátnyj)

deliberately evasive or enigmatic

Bulgarian: мистериозен (bg) (misteriozen)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: arvoituksellinen (fi)
Maori: porehu, pōkīkī
Polish: zagadkowy (pl)
Portuguese: misterioso (pt)
Russian: зага́дочный (ru) (zagádočnyj), таи́нственный (ru) (taínstvennyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Faroese: ^{(please verify)} dularfullur
Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} mystisk