mystique
English
Etymology
From French mystique (“a mystic”), from Latin mysticus. See also the doublet mystic.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɪˈstiːk/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- Rhymes: -iːk
Noun
mystique (usually uncountable, plural mystiques)
- An aura of heightened interest, meaning or mystery surrounding a person or thing.
- 1960 December, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 776:
- THE LONDON BRIGHTON & SOUTH COAST RAILWAY. By C. Hamilton Ellis. Ian Allan. 30s. [...] In an opening chapter entitled "Portrait", he ends by asking whether there was a mystique about the L.B. & S.C.
- 1963, Betty Friedan, “The Mistaken Choice”, in The Feminine Mystique:
- The mystique spelled out a choice—love, home, children, or other goals and purposes in life. […] The baby boom of the immediate postwar years took place in every country. But it was not permeated, in most other countries, with the mystique of feminine fulfillment.
- 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 134:
- Through male bonding, the subculture of the hunt caught up in the mystique of the chase, the hunting party became a military force, and men discovered that they need not stop at defense: they could go out to hunt for other people's wealth.
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Further reading
mystique on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “mystique”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “mystique”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Latin mysticus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mis.tik/
Audio (file)
Noun
mystique f (plural mystiques)
- mystic, one who practices mysticism
Adjective
mystique (plural mystiques)
- mystic, mystical
Further reading
- “mystique”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.