different between mystery vs insight

English

Etymology

From Middle English mysterie, from Anglo-Norman misterie (Old French mistere), from Latin mysterium, from Ancient Greek ????????? (must?rion, “a mystery, a secret, a secret rite”), from ?????? (múst?s, “initiated one”), from ???? (mué?, “I initiate”), from ??? (mú?, “I shut”). Displaced native Old English ?er?ne.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?s?t?r?, m?s?tr?, IPA^(key): /?m?st??i/, /?m?st?i/
• Hyphenation: mys?te?ry, myst?ery

Noun

mystery (countable and uncountable, plural mysteries)

1. Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown. [From XIV century.]
2. Someone or something with an obscure or puzzling nature.
3. (obsolete) A secret or mystical meaning. [From XIV century.]
   • 1567, Matteo Bandello, Certain Tragical Discourses of Bandello, tr. Geffraie Fenton:

     ...and, not knowing the meaning or misterie of her pollicie, forgat no termes of reproche or rigorous rebuke against his chast doughter.

4. A religious truth not understandable by the application of human reason alone (without divine aid). [From XIV century.]
   • 1744 (first printed), Jonathan Swift, A Sermon on the Trinity

     If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them, unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind.

5. (archaic outside Eastern Orthodoxy) A sacrament. [From XV century.]
   • 1809, Sir Robert Ker Porter, Travelling Sketches in Russia and Sweden: During the Years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808:

     There are seven mysteries, or sacraments, in the Greek church, viz. baptism, the chrism (a rite peculiar to this church), the eucharist, confession, ordination, marriage, and the holy oil.

6. (chiefly in the plural) A secret religious celebration, admission to which was usually through initiation. [From XV century.]
7. (Catholicism) A particular event or series of events in the life of Christ. [From XVII century.]

8. A craft, art or trade; specifically a guild of craftsmen.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

     The trades, the crafts, the mysteries, would all be losers.

Synonyms

• roun (obsolete)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman misterie.

Noun

mystery

1. Alternative form of mysterie (“mystery”)

Etymology 2

From Old French mistere.

Noun

mystery

1. Alternative form of mysterie (“duty”)

English

Etymology

From Middle English insight, insiht (“insight, mental vision, intelligence, understanding”), equivalent to in- +? sight. Perhaps continuing Old English insiht (“narrative, argument, account”), from Proto-Germanic *insahtiz (“account, narrative, argument”). Compare West Frisian ynsjoch (“insight”), Dutch inzicht (“insight, awareness, view, opinion”), German Low German Insicht (“insight”), German Einsicht (“insight, knowledge, perception, understanding”), Danish indsigt (“insight”), Swedish insikt (“insight”), Icelandic innsýn (“insight”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?n's?t, IPA^(key): /??nsa?t/

Noun

insight (countable and uncountable, plural insights)

1. A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.
2. Power of acute observation and deduction

   Synonyms: penetration, discernment, perception

3. (marketing) Knowledge (usually derived from consumer understanding) that a company applies in order to make a product or brand perform better and be more appealing to customers
4. Intuitive apprehension of the inner nature of a thing or things; intuition.
5. (artificial intelligence) An extended understanding of a subject resulting from identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, context, or scenario.
6. (psychiatry) An individual's awareness of the nature and severity of one's mental illness.

Related terms

• outsight

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Tignish, histing, shiting, sight in, sithing