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pronounce ARCANE: Say it "ar CANE." Hear it here. connect this word to others: Our word arcane (meaning "hidden") is closely related to ark, which is a box (or a ship, we're not picky) where you can safely hide things away. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the ark makes a perfect McG_____: an object that drives the plot because the characters are desperate to find it. Can you recall that term? (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: In Latin, arcere means "to hide away, to enclose," and arcanus means "secret, private, hidden away." (They trace to the word arca, meaning "a box, or a chest: someplace to hide things away.") Those words made their way into English around the year 1547 or so as "arcane," meaning "secret, hidden away, kept concealed." We still use that meaning of "arcane" today. And a bit more loosely, we can use it to mean "mysterious, full of secrets, or known or understood only by a few people or groups." grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective: "these arcane symbols;" "The rules are old, arcane, and largely forgotten." Other forms:  If you're a person with arcane knowledge, you're an arcanist. And something that's a secret is an arcanum. More than one of them are arcana. how to use it: Pick the formal, semi-common, scholarly-sounding word "arcane" when you want to emphasize just how obscure or mysterious something is. Talk about arcane words, languages, knowledge, fields, rituals, secrets, and mysteries. examples: "Within the ranks of his arcane field—an advanced technology called synthetic aperture radar, or SAR—he is an eminence."    — Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, 1996 "'Here, let me hit you with a Cure Serious Wounds spell before you go.' Before I could protest, she laid a hand on my avatar's chest and muttered a few arcane words."    — Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, 2011 has this page helped you understand "arcane"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "arcane" without saying "hidden" or "concealed." try it out: "Arcane" is great for sarcasm! Check out some examples: 1. "Punctuation isn't some subtle, arcane concept."    — Patricia T. O'Conner, Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English, 1996 2. "Simply being able to count was considered a talent as mystical and arcane as casting spells and calling the gods by name."    — Charles Seife, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, 2000 3. "'How do you come to speak my language? More witchcraft.' 'If by witchcraft, you mean the arcane practice of reading.'"    — Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows, 2015 With these examples in mind, talk about something easy, simple, common, or commonsense that nevertheless impresses or confuses some folks, as if it's arcane. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is Apt Adjective Anagrams! I'll invent a person's name and a brief description, and you unscramble the letters in their name to form an adjective that aptly describes the person or the person's situation. For example: Carl Rebe has three advanced degrees. You rearrange the letters in "Carl Rebe" to form the adjective "cerebral," meaning "brainy, smart, or intellectual.” Sentimental movies always bring Martin Devesto to tears? He’s demonstrative. Lilian Tulip is dainty in the extreme? She’s lilliputian. Tia Fauns runs a sweatshop and is filthy rich? Perhaps she made a bargain with the devil, because her lifestyle is Faustian. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Try this one today: Lucio Taltoga's favorite phrases are "It is what it is," "I'll see ya when I see ya," and "I was thinking that inside my head." review this word: 1. One opposite of ARCANE is A. BLUNT. B. USEFUL. C. WIDELY KNOWN. 2. Netflix's appropriately-named show "Arcane" is about _____. A. finance and Wall Street B. teenagers and scary stories C. Zaun, Piltover, and hextech Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. C Answer to the game question: His speech is tautological. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.