enigma

See also: Enigma and enigmă

English

Alternative forms

• ænigma (chiefly archaic)

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), being derived itself from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, speaking in riddles”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈnɪɡmə/, /əˈnɪɡmə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡmə

Noun

enigma (plural enigmas or enigmata)

1. Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
2. A riddle, or a difficult problem.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], OCLC 1042815524, part I, page 202:

     Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma.

Related terms

• a riddle wrapped up in an enigma
• Enigma machine
• enigmatic

Translations

something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable

• Albanian: enigmë (sq) f
• Arabic: لُغْز‎ (ar) m (luḡz), غَامِضَة‎ f (ḡāmiḍa)
• Armenian: առեղծված (hy) (aṙełcvac)
• Asturian: enigma m
• Azerbaijani: müəmma (az)
• Belarusian: зага́дка f (zahádka)
• Bulgarian: зага́дка (bg) f (zagádka)
• Burmese: စကားထာ (my) (ca.ka:hta)
• Catalan: enigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謎 (zh), 谜 (zh) (mí)

• Danish: gåde c
• Dutch: raadsel (nl) n, mysterie (nl) n
• Czech: záhada (cs) f
• Esperanto: enigmo (eo)
• Estonian: mõistatus
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi), mysteeri (fi)
• French: énigme (fr) f
• Galician: enigma m
• Georgian: გამოცანა (gamocana)
• German: Rätsel (de) n, Mysterium (de) n
• Greek: αίνιγμα (el) n (aínigma)
• Hebrew: חִידָה‎ (he) f (ḥidá), תַּעֲלוּמָה‎ (he) f (ta'lumá)
• Hindi: पहेली (hi) f (pahelī), मुअम्मा (hi) m (muammā), राज़ m (rāz)
• Icelandic: ráðgáta
• Italian: enigma (it) m
• Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo)
• Kazakh: жұмбақ (jūmbaq)
• Khmer: បណ្ដៅ (km) (bɑndaw), ប្រស្នា (km) (prɑsnaa)
• Korean: 수수께끼 (ko) (susukkekki)
• Kyrgyz: табышмак (ky) (tabışmaq)

• Lao: ຄຳທວຍ (kham thuāi)
• Latvian: noslēpums m
• Lithuanian: paslaptis m, mįslė f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gåte (no) m or f

• Occitan: enigma (oc)
• Pashto: معما‎‎ f (ma'mã)
• Persian: معما‎ (fa) (mo'ammâ)
• Polish: enigma (pl) f, tajemnica (pl) f, zagadka (pl) f
• Portuguese: enigma (pt) m, mistério (pt) m
• Romanian: enigmă (ro) f
• Russian: зага́дка (ru) f (zagádka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal m, dubh-cheist f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̏гоне̄тка f

  Roman: zȁgonētka (sh) f

• Slovak: záhada f
• Slovene: uganka (sl) f
• Spanish: enigma (es) m
• Swedish: gåta (sv) c
• Tajik: муаммо (tg) (muammo)
• Tatar: табышмак (tt) (tabışmaq)
• Thai: ปริศนา (th) (bprìt-sà-nǎa)
• Turkish: bilmece (tr), muamma (tr)
• Ukrainian: зага́дка (uk) f (zahádka)
• Urdu: معما‎ m (mu'ammā), پہیلی‎ f (pahelī), راز‎ m (rāz)
• Uyghur: تېپىشماق‎ (tëpishmaq)
• Uzbek: jumboq (uz), topishmoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: điều bí ẩn
• Walloon: cwacwa (wa) m, enike (wa) f

riddle, or a difficult problem

• Armenian: հանելուկ (hy) (haneluk)
• Belarusian: зага́дка f (zahádka)
• Bulgarian: зага́дка (bg) f (zagádka)
• Czech: záhada (cs) f
• Dutch: raadsel (nl), enigma (nl)
• Esperanto: enigmo (eo)
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
• French: énigme (fr) f
• German: Rätsel (de) n, Knobelei f, Rateaufgabe f, Knobelaufgabe f
• Greek: αίνιγμα (el) n (aínigma), (maths) πρόβλημα (el) n (próvlima)
• Icelandic: ráðgáta
• Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo)
• Korean: 수수께끼 (ko) (susukkekki)
• Italian: enigma (it) m, indovinello (it) m
• Macedonian: загатка f (zagatka)
• Persian: معما‎ (fa) (mo'ammâ)
• Polish: zagadka (pl) f, enigma (pl) f

• Portuguese: enigma (pt) m
• Romanian: ghicitoare (ro) f
• Russian: зага́дка (ru) f (zagádka), головоло́мка (ru) f (golovolómka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal m, dubh-cheist f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̏гоне̄тка f

  Roman: zȁgonētka (sh) f

• Slovak: záhada f
• Slovene: uganka (sl) f
• Swedish: enigma (sv)
• Tagalog: hibat
• Tajik: муаммо (tg) (muammo)
• Ukrainian: зага́дка (uk) f (zahádka)

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

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} غامض‎
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} enigma
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} aenigma n

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} enigma (es) m

Anagrams

• gamine, imagen, in-game

---

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmes)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmáticu

---

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish enigma, from Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Noun

enigma inan

1. enigma

---

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /əˈniɡ.mə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /eˈniɡ.ma/

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmes)

1. enigma

Derived terms

• enigmàtic

Further reading

• “enigma” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

---

Esperanto

Etymology

enigmo +‎ -a

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

enigma (accusative singular enigman, plural enigmaj, accusative plural enigmajn)

1. enigmatic

---

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeniɡmɑ/, [ˈe̞niɡmɑ]
• Rhymes: -eniɡmɑ
• Syllabification^(key): e‧nig‧ma

Noun

enigma

1. enigma

Declension

Inflection of enigma (Kotus type 9/kala, no gradation)
nominative		enigma	enigmat
genitive		enigman	enigmojen
partitive		enigmaa	enigmoja
illative		enigmaan	enigmoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		enigma	enigmat
accusative	nom.	enigma	enigmat
	gen.	enigman
genitive		enigman	enigmojen enigmainrare
partitive		enigmaa	enigmoja
inessive		enigmassa	enigmoissa
elative		enigmasta	enigmoista
illative		enigmaan	enigmoihin
adessive		enigmalla	enigmoilla
ablative		enigmalta	enigmoilta
allative		enigmalle	enigmoille
essive		enigmana	enigmoina
translative		enigmaksi	enigmoiksi
instructive		—	enigmoin
abessive		enigmatta	enigmoitta
comitative		—	enigmoineen

Possessive forms of enigma (type kala)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	enigmani	enigmamme
2nd person	enigmasi	enigmanne
3rd person	enigmansa

---

Galician

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmático

---

Italian

Etymology

From Latin ænigma, from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈniɡ.ma/
• Rhymes: -iɡma
• Hyphenation: e‧nìg‧ma

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmi)

1. enigma, riddle, conundrum

   Synonyms: giallo, mistero

Related terms

• enigmatico
• enigmista
• enigmistica
• enigmistico

Anagrams

• Nimega, gemina, igname

---

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /eːˈniɡ.ma/, [eːˈnɪɡmä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈniɡ.ma/, [eˈniɡmä]

Noun

ēnigma n (genitive ēnigmatis); third declension

1. Alternative form of aenigma

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ēnigma	ēnigmata
Genitive	ēnigmatis	ēnigmatum
Dative	ēnigmatī	ēnigmatibus
Accusative	ēnigma	ēnigmata
Ablative	ēnigmate	ēnigmatibus
Vocative	ēnigma	ēnigmata

---

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French énigme, from Latin aenigma, from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛˈɲiɡ.ma/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɡma
• Syllabification: e‧nig‧ma

Noun

enigma f

1. (literary) enigma (something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable)

   Synonyms: tajemnica, zagadka

Declension

Declension of enigma

	singular	plural
nominative	enigma	enigmy
genitive	enigmy	enigm
dative	enigmie	enigmom
accusative	enigmę	enigmy
instrumental	enigmą	enigmami
locative	enigmie	enigmach
vocative	enigmo	enigmy

Related terms

adjective

• enigmatyczny

 

adverb

• enigmatycznie

 

noun

• enigmatyczność

 

Further reading

• enigma in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• enigma in Polish dictionaries at PWN

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmático

---

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [eˈniɡma]

Noun

enigma f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of enigmă

---

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈniɡma/, [eˈniɣ̞.ma]

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

1. enigma, conundrum (something that is puzzling)
2. riddle, conundrum

Related terms

• enigmático
• enigmáticamente

Further reading

• “enigma”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Anagrams

• gemina