cryptic
/ˈkɹɪptɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.23 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having hidden (unapparent) meaning.
adj
Of a crossword puzzle, or a clue in such a puzzle, using, in addition to definitions, wordplay such as anagrams, homophones and hidden words to indicate solutions.
adj
adj
Serving as camouflage.
adj
Example Sentences
- "I think the Original of this conceit might be, That the Students of Nature, conſcious to her more cryptick wayes of working, reſolve many ſtrange effects into the nearer efficiency of ſecond cauſes[…]"
- "Even the putatively innocuous whimsical shapes and designs of cakes and pastry, notably in Central Europe, retain to this day the phallic concept, the cryptic induration of the aphrodisiac function."
- "Lonomia caterpillars are extremely cryptic."
- "cryptic colouring"
- "Episematic characters are far less common than aposematic, and these than cryptic; although, as regards the latter comparison, the opposite impression is generally produced from the fact that concealment is so successfully attained."
- "cryptic species"
Etymology
From Late Latin crypticus, from Ancient Greek κρυπτικός (kruptikós), from κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”). Doublet of kryptic.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: crypticus, κρυπτικός
Usage
Inflected Forms
more cryptic (comparative)
most cryptic (superlative)
cryptick (alternative, obsolete)
cryptics (plural)
the Cryptic (canonical)