numen
/ˈnuː.mən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.55 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A divinity, especially a local or presiding god.
noun
An influence or phenomenon at once mystical and transcendent.
Example Sentences
- "The Egyptians were doubtless the most singular of all the Pagans, and the most oddly discrepant from the rest in their manner of worship; yet nevertheless, that these also agreed with the rest in those fundamentals of worshipping one supreme and universal Numen […]"
- "Where were Secretaries James and Foster and Senator Joseph, those dear daft numina who’d mothered over Oedipa’s so temperate youth?"
- "It was the solid and immovable tabernacle of the living numen whose son he had known, though but briefly and not intimately, in the flesh, and whose message he accepted with all his heart."
- "[…]but never did the places or the persons turn into idols for my irrational worship. It was only the numen in them that I loved, who, as I passed by abstracted, whispered some immortal word in my ear."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin nūmen.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnuː.mən/
- British English: /ˈnjuː.mən/