different between arcane vs arcanum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arc?nus (“hidden, secret”), from arce? (“to shut up, enclose”); cognate with Latin arca (“a chest”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???ke?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Adjective

arcane (comparative more arcane, superlative most arcane)

1. Understood by only a few.

   Synonym: esoteric

   Antonym: mundane

2. (by extension) Obscure, mysterious.

   Synonyms: enigmatic, esoteric, recondite, clandestine

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

Derived terms

• arcanely
• arcaneness

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• arcane in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• arcane in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• arcane at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• carane

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?.kan/

Adjective

arcane (plural arcanes)

1. (dated) arcane, secret, mysterious

Noun

arcane m (plural arcanes)

1. (chiefly in the plural) mysteries, arcanum

Further reading

• “arcane” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

arcane

1. feminine plural of arcano

Anagrams

• arance, carena, carnea

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ar?ka?.ne/, [är?kä?n?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ar?ka.ne/, [?r?k??n?]

Adjective

arc?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of arc?nus

English

Etymology

Latin arc?num

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???ke?n?m/, /???k??n?m/

Noun

arcanum (plural arcana or arcanums)

1. A mystery or deep secret.
2. An elixir or secret remedy.

Related terms

• arcane

Translations

See also

• occult
• tarot

Latin

Noun

arc?num n (genitive arc?n?); second declension

1. secret or mystery

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Related terms

• arc?nus

Descendants

• English: arcane
• French: arcane
• Italian: arcano
• Portuguese: arcano
• Spanish: arcano

References

• arcanum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• arcanum in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly