occult

occult

English

WOTD – 14 January 2010

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin occultus (“hidden, secret”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒk.ʌlt/, /əˈkʌlt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈkʌlt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Verb

occult (third-person singular simple present occults, present participle occulting, simple past and past participle occulted)

1. (transitive, astronomy) To cover or hide from view.

   The Earth occults the Moon during a lunar eclipse.

2. (transitive, rare) To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.

Translations

to cover

Catalan: ocultar (ca), amagar (ca) Dutch: verduisteren (nl), bedekken (nl) Finnish: pimentää French: occulter (fr) Galician: ocultar (gl) Ido: okultacar (io) Italian: occultare (it) Japanese: 掩蔽する (ja) (えんぺいする, enpei suru) Macedonian: скрива (skriva), прикрива (prikriva) Norwegian: okkultere Portuguese: ocultar (pt) Russian: скрыва́ть (ru) (skryvátʹ), заслоня́ть (ru) (zaslonjátʹ)

Adjective

occult (comparative more occult, superlative most occult)

1. (medicine) Secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected.

   occult blood loss; occult cancer

   • 1860, Isaac Taylor, “Mind in Form”, in Ultimate Civilization‎, page 178:

     This counter-influence is so much more conclusive […] because it is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.

2. Related to the occult; pertaining to mysticism, magic, or astrology.
   • 2017, Pao Chang, Word Magic: The Powers & Occult Definitions of Words, OCLC 1027495238:

     Be aware that occult knowledge can be used for good or evil purposes.

3. Esoteric.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

Derived terms

• occult line

Translations

secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected

Armenian: ծածուկ (hy) (cacuk), գաղտնի (hy) (gałtni), թաքուն (hy) (tʿakʿun), խորհրդավոր (hy) (xorhrdavor) Bulgarian: таен (bg) (taen), поверителен (bg) (poveritelen) Catalan: ocult (ca), amagat (ca) Dutch: verborgen (nl), latent (nl) Finnish: piilevä (fi), salainen (fi) German: okkult (de) Italian: latente (it), celato (it), recondito (it), nascosto (it) Norwegian: okkult, skjult Persian: (literally) نهان‎ (fa) (nahân), (formally) پنهان‎ (fa) (penhân), (usual) مخفی‎ (fa) (maxfi) Portuguese: oculto (pt), ocultado Russian: скры́тый (ru) (skrýtyj), та́йный (ru) (tájnyj) Turkish: gizli (tr)

related to the occult

Bulgarian: тайнствен (bg) (tajnstven), окултен (bg) (okulten) Catalan: ocult (ca) Danish: okkult Dutch: occult (nl) Finnish: yliluonnollinen (fi), salattu (fi) French: occulte (fr) German: okkult (de) Hungarian: okkult (hu) Ido: okulta (io) Italian: occulto (it) m Kazakh: оккульттық (okkulttyq) Norwegian: okkult Persian: رازآمیز‎ (râz-âmiz) Portuguese: oculto (pt) Russian: окку́льтный (ru) (okkúlʹtnyj) Welsh: cyfriniol (cy)

esoteric

Bulgarian: окултен (bg) (okulten) Catalan: ocult (ca) Danish: esoterisk, okkult Finnish: esoteerinen (fi) Italian: esoterico (it)

Noun

occult (uncountable)

1. (usually with "the") Supernatural affairs.

Translations

supernatural affairs

Afrikaans: okkultisme Albanian: okultizmi Arabic: تَنْجِيمِيَّة‎ f (tanjīmiyya) Bulgarian: окулти́зъм m (okultízǎm) Catalan: ocultisme, ocult (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 神秘學／神秘学 (shénmìxué) Danish: okkultisme Dutch: occulte (nl) n, occultisme (nl) n Esperanto: okultismo Estonian: okultism Finnish: yliluonnollinen (fi) French: occulte (fr) m or f, occultisme (fr) m Galician: ocultismo German: Okkult m, Okkultismus (de) m Hebrew: אוקולטיזם‎ (he) Hindi: तंत्र-मंत्र m (tantra-mantra) Hungarian: okkult (hu) Indonesian: okultisme (id) Italian: occulto (it) m, occultismo (it) Japanese: オカルト (ja) (okaruto), 超自然現象 (ちょうしぜんげんしょう, chōshizen genshō) Kazakh: оккультизм (okkultizm) Korean: 오컬트 (okeolteu) Lithuanian: okultizmas Macedonian: окулти́зам m (okultízam) Polish: okultyzm (pl) m Portuguese: oculto (pt), ocultismo (pt) Russian: оккульти́зм (ru) m (okkulʹtízm) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: окултизам m Roman: okultizam (sh) m Sinhalese: ගුප්තශාස්ත්‍ර (guptaśāstra) Slovak: okultizmus (sk) m Spanish: oculto (es) m, ocultismo Swedish: ockult (sv), ockultism (sv) Thai: สิ่งลึกลับ (sìng léuk láp) Turkish: okültizm (tr) Welsh: yr ocwlt

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Persian: (please verify) مستترکردن‎

Related terms

• occultation
• occultive

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱel-‎ (2 c, 2 e)