mystery (English)
Where does "mystery" come from?
The word mystery traveled into English through Middle English 'mysterie'[1][3] and Anglo-Norman 'misterie'[1][3], tracing back to Old French 'mistere'[1] and Latin 'mysterium'[1][3][4]. These earlier European forms derived from Ancient Greek 'μυστήριον' meaning 'a mystery, a secret, or a secret rite'[1][4]. The Greek root ultimately reaches back to 'μύω' meaning 'I shut'[1][2], reflecting an ancient path of meaning where a person who shuts the eyes becomes an initiated one[5].
Open questions
- The exact sense development from shutting to shutting the eyes and finally to an initiated person is considered probable rather than certain. [5]
Full etymology tree
- mystery (English), 'Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.'
- inherited mysterie (Middle English), 'Obscure or esoteric religious teachings or beliefs'
- inherited misterie (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited mysterium (Latin), 'mystery (secret rite or worship)'
- borrowed μυστήριον (mustḗrion) (Ancient Greek), 'revealed secret'
- derived μύστης (mústēs) (Ancient Greek), 'one who has been initiated; an initiate'
- derived μυέω (muéō) (Ancient Greek), 'to initiate (confer membership on)'
- derived μύω (múō) (Ancient Greek), 'to close, to shut'
- suffix -της (-tēs) (Ancient Greek), 'forms nouns representing a state of being'
- derived μυέω (muéō) (Ancient Greek), 'to initiate (confer membership on)'
- suffix -ιον (-ion) (Ancient Greek), 'Termination of neuter substantivations of adjectives in -ιος (-ios, “belonging to”, also forms parasynthetic compounds).'
- derived μύστης (mústēs) (Ancient Greek), 'one who has been initiated; an initiate'
- borrowed μυστήριον (mustḗrion) (Ancient Greek), 'revealed secret'
- inherited mysterium (Latin), 'mystery (secret rite or worship)'
- inherited misterie (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited mysterie (Middle English), 'Obscure or esoteric religious teachings or beliefs'
Ancestors
- mysterie (Middle English)
- mysterium (Latin)
- μυστήριον (Ancient Greek)
Cognates and doublets
- mistere (Old French)
Descendants and derived words
- bag of mystery (English)
- bibliomystery (English)
- dramystery (English)
- Eleusinian Mysteries (English)
- murder mystery (English)
- mysterama (English)
- mysteriarch (English)
- mysterical (English)
- mysteried (English)
- mysterious (English)
- mysterize (English)
- mystery bag (English)
Sources
- mystery (English) - Wiktionary
- μυστήριον (mustḗrion) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
- mysterie (Middle English) - Wiktionary
- mysterium (Latin) - Wiktionary
- μύστης (mústēs) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris