Cryptic

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Dr. Goodword
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Cryptic

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Apr 11, 2023 6:04 pm

• cryptic •


Pronunciation: krip-tik • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. (Timeworn) Like a crypt; otherwise related to crypts, as 'a cryptic room'. 2. Secret, enigmatic, mysterious, requiring a code or cipher, as 'a cryptic smile'. 3. Exceptionally brief, curt, short, as 'a cryptic response' 4. Concealed, camouflaged, as 'a cryptic nesting site' or 'cryptic colorings of an animal'.

Notes: Here is a word whose meaning has strayed far away from the original. It comes from the noun crypt, a small dark room, usually locked, hence requiring a key. Cryptic may be extended to cryptical, but it must be extended before transforming it into an adverb, cryptically. The quality noun is crypticity.

In Play: The second sense above is one of the most often encountered: "Finn and Hattie Frye belong to a cryptic underground revolutionary brigade." Meaning three above is another sense in which we often encounter this word: "When Phil Anders asked June McBride for her hand in marriage, her reply was a cryptic, 'Maybe.'"

Word History: Today's Good Word is a reduction of Latin crypticus "concealed, hidden", borrowed from Greek kryptikos "obscuring, concealing", an adjective based on kryptos "hidden". Greek inherited its word from PIE ghrebh-/ghrobh- "to dig, scratch", source also of German Grab "grave". Russian grob "coffin" and greben' "comb", English grave, Icelandic grafa "to dig", and Albanian gropë "hollow, cavity, hole". The semantic drift of this word over the past 3000 years seems to have been "scratch" > "dig" > "hole" > "grave" > "crypt" > "mysterious, secret". (Let's not be cryptic in our expression of gratitude to Wordmaster Rob Towart for suggesting today's mysterious Good Word.)
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Slava
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Re: Cryptic

Postby Slava » Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:17 pm

Something about the noun appeals to me. Crypticity. It appears in only Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary, though. Does this detract from its validity?
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bnjtokyo
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Re: Cryptic

Postby bnjtokyo » Tue Apr 11, 2023 8:03 pm

But is "cryptic" in the example
"When Phil Anders asked June McBride for her hand in marriage, her reply was a cryptic, 'Maybe.'"
an example of "cryptic" is sense three, short and curt, or sense two, enigmatic? If June McBride had answered "no" or "yes," would we deem her reply cryptic? Both "no" and "yes" are both shorter and briefer that "maybe." And while "no" is curt, I suppose "yes" could also be spoken curtly. But neither "no" nor "yes" is enigmatic.

And a longer reply, "Well, let's see what my ouiji board says" is certainly cryptic.

George Kovac
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Re: Cryptic

Postby George Kovac » Wed Apr 12, 2023 6:59 am

Cryptocurrency is an excellent new portmanteau. It embodies all four meanings of “cryptic”: crypt-like, concealed, coded, and—given its disastrous applications and abuses—hopefully short-lived.
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Re: Cryptic

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Apr 12, 2023 7:39 am

Crypticity also appears with 4 definitions and 15 examples in the granddaddy of them all--the Oxford English Dictionary.
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Debbymoge
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Re: Cryptic

Postby Debbymoge » Thu Apr 13, 2023 11:07 am

... and greben' "comb"...
Comb as in for hair?
And whence catacomb?
Thanks for any clarification.
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David Myer
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Re: Cryptic

Postby David Myer » Mon Apr 17, 2023 3:40 am

Good questions Debby. I can't help. But I might ask another: are cryptic crosswords cryptic in sense 2 or sense 4?


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