arcane

English

/ɑɹˈkeɪn/

adj
Definitions
  • Understood by only a few.
  • (by extension) Obscure, mysterious.
  • Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge to understand.
  • Extremely old (e.g. interpretation or knowledge), and possibly irrelevant.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arcānus (hidden, secret) root from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- (guard, protect, hold, shut in).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*h₂erk-

Gloss

guard, protect, hold, shut in

Concept
Semantic Field

Warfare and hunting

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Emoji
💂 💂‍♀️ 💂‍♂️

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms