mystical

Etymology

It is formed from English mystic + -al.^[2][3][4][5] The base adjective is from Latin mysticus (“mystical, of secret rites”), partly through Old French mistique (“mysterious”),^[3][4][6] from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, connected with the mysteries”),^[3][7][6] from μύστης (mústēs, “an initiate”),^[3][7][6][4] which the Shorter Oxford derives from a verb meaning to close the eyes or lips, and so to initiate.^[4] It is thus related to mystery.^[6][3][7] The OED notes that one early use (1516) may rather mean "causing obscurity", which could point to a separate formation from mist and -ical.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a spiritual character or significance through a union with God beyond human understanding: before 1513, in Bradshaw's Life of Saint Werburge.^[2] Etymonline gives "enigmatic, obscure, symbolic" in the late 15th century,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com also date the word to the 15th century.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The word began in theology: spiritually allegorical or symbolic, and of Scripture, having a hidden spiritual meaning beneath the literal one (1526).^[2][4] A general sense "mysterious, enigmatic, obscure" followed in 1516,^[2] and it was used from 1542 of matters concerned with the soul's communion with God or a higher spiritual power,^[2] the sense "having spiritual significance" that Etymonline dates to the 1520s.^[3] From 1577 it could refer to occult rites and practices.^[2] Some early senses have died out: "secret, concealed" (1600–1687),^[2] and of a person, "obscure in speech, versed in esoteric knowledge" (1604–1698).^[2] Today Collins lists "a less common word for mysterious" beside the religious senses.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1513 – having a spiritual character through union with God.^[2]
• 1516 – mysterious, obscure, esoteric.^[2]
• 1526 – of Scripture, having a hidden spiritual meaning.^[2]
• 1529 – spiritually allegorical or symbolic.^[2]
• 1542 – concerned with the soul's communion with God.^[2]
• 1577 – relating to occult rites or practices.^[2]
• 1600 – secret, concealed (obsolete by 1687).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to mysticism, or to a direct, personal experience of communion with God or a spiritual reality: a mystical vision.^[6][5][9]
2. Having a spiritual meaning that is not evident to the senses or the intellect; symbolic or allegorical: a mystical reading of the parable.^[5][6][2]
3. Having occult or supernatural significance or force.^[9][2]
4. Inspiring awe; mysterious or enigmatic.^[6][9][2]

Word family

• mystically
• mysticalness
• mysticality
• hypermystical
• nonmystical
• semimystical
• unmystical

Related words

• mysterious
• mystery
• mystic
• mysticism
• mystify
• mystique

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins