arcane

C2 大学 FREQ #36563 ★☆☆☆☆

a. 神秘的, 晦涩难解的

发音

US /ɑɹˈkeɪn/

词形变化

more arcane 比较级 most arcane 最高级

教材释义与例句

形容词

神秘的；晦涩难解的；秘传的

释义与例句

adj. C2
  1. 1.

    Understood by only a few.

    arcane rituals

    arcane knowledge

    The professor’s lecture was full of arcane references.

    The manuscript contained arcane symbols no one could decipher.

    He had an arcane knowledge of ancient rituals.

  2. 2.

    Obscure, mysterious.

    引申义

    arcane origins

    arcane details

  3. 3.

    Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge to understand.

    1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN A “signature” was placed on all things by God to indicate their affinities — but it was hidden, hence the search for arcane knowledge. Knowing was guessing and interpreting, not observing or demonstrating.

  4. 4.

    Extremely old (e.g. interpretation or knowledge), and possibly irrelevant.

    an arcane law

词汇关系

形容词

近义相关 1

esoteric

词源

Borrowed from Latin arcānus (“hidden, secret”), from arceō (“to shut up, enclose”); cognate with Latin arca (“a chest”).

来源：wiktionary