Word.ws English Dictionary

apocrypha

/əˈpɒk.ɹə.fə/

apocrypha is the plural of apocryphon.

Meaning of apocryphon

Noun

apocryphon (plural apocrypha)

  1. Synonym of apocrypha.
    Synonyms:
    apocrypha

Noun

apocrypha (usually uncountable, plural apocrypha or apocryphas)

  1. (usually) Something, as a writing, that is of doubtful authorship or authority (formerly also used attributively).
    • But it may be objected, that these books being in the Jews' canon , ought to be acknowledged for divinely inspired , rather than the apocryphas that never were in ita. 1704, John Locke, An Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul's Epistles
    • Our entymological^([sic – meaning etymological]) approaches to the I or Change in the I Ching seem to confirm one of the well known apocryphas, I-Wei Ch'ien tso-tu.1975, Jung Young Lee, The I Ching and Modern Man: Essays on Metaphysical Implications of Change, Secaucus, NJ: University Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 24

Proper noun capitalized: Apocrypha

Apocrypha pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) That group of works which formed part of the Septuagint, but not of the Hebrew canon recognized by the Jews, and which is considered by some Christians to form an authentic part of Scripture, but which is rejected by others (namely by Protestants).
    Synonyms:
    Deuterocanon

Synonyms of apocrypha

Forms of apocrypha

pluralapocrypha
pluralapocryphas

Origin of apocrypha

From Middle English apocrypha, apocrifa, apocrif, from Late Latin apocryphus (“secret, not approved for public reading”), from Ancient Greek ἀπόκρυφος (apókruphos, “hidden, obscure”, thus “(books) of unknown authorship”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”). Properly plural (the singular would be apocryphon), but commonly treated as a collective singular. “Apocryphal” meaning “of doubtful authenticity” is first attested in English in 1590.

See apocrypha.

Questions about apocrypha

What does apocrypha mean?
Apocrypha means something, as a writing, that is of doubtful authorship or authority (formerly also used attributively).
What is apocrypha the plural of?
Apocrypha is the plural of apocryphon.
What part of speech is apocrypha?
Apocrypha can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce apocrypha?
Apocrypha is pronounced /əˈpɒk.ɹə.fə/.
What is the plural of apocrypha?
The plural of apocrypha is apocrypha.

Words near apocrypha in the dictionary

  1. apocrisiarius
  2. apocrisiary
  3. apocrisis
  4. apocritan
  5. apocritans
  6. apocrypha
  7. apocryphal
  8. apocryphalist
  9. apocryphalists
  10. apocryphally
  11. apocryphalness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apocrypha (page history and authors); Apocrypha (page history and authors); apocryphon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-apocrypha.wav.

Cite this entry: “apocrypha.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apocrypha. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.