Word.ws English Dictionary

mysterium

Syllables: mys·te·ri·umUK/mɪˈstɪəɹɪəm/US/mɪˈstɪɹiəm/

mysterium noun: any of various unknown elements thought to make up existing forms of matter, or a substance seen as an elemental or pure form of something else.

Noun

mysterium (plural mysteria)

  1. (historical) Any of various unknown elements thought to make up existing forms of matter, or a substance seen as an elemental or pure form of something else.
    • There are many such mysteria: milk is a mysterium of cheese and butter, and cheese in turn a mysterium of maggots, which were thought to form spontaneously in rotting food.2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow, published 2007, page 263
  2. (historical) The hypothetical source of a galactic radio emission at 1665 megahertz (later identified as due to hydroxyl radicals in interstellar space).

Forms of mysterium

pluralmysteria

Origin of mysterium

Borrowed from Latin mystērium. Doublet of mystery.

Questions about mysterium

What does mysterium mean?
Mysterium means any of various unknown elements thought to make up existing forms of matter, or a substance seen as an elemental or pure form of something else.
What part of speech is mysterium?
Mysterium is a noun.
How do you pronounce mysterium?
Mysterium is pronounced /mɪˈstɪəɹɪəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of mysterium?
The plural of mysterium is mysteria.

Words near mysterium in the dictionary

  1. mysteriosophy
  2. mysterious
  3. mysteriously
  4. mysteriousness
  5. mysteriousnesses
  6. mysterium
  7. mysterize
  8. mysterized
  9. mysterizes
  10. mysterizing
  11. mystery

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mysterium (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.

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