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)

Noun

enigma (plural enigmas or enigmata)

1. Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
2. A riddle, or a difficult problem.

Related terms

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

Translations

something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable

• Armenian: առեղծված (hy) (aṙełcvac)
• Asturian: enigma m
• Bulgarian: мистерия (bg) f (misterija)
• Catalan: enigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謎 (zh), 谜 (zh) (mí)

• Czech: záhada (cs) f
• Esperanto: enigmo (eo)
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi), mysteeri (fi)
• French: énigme (fr) f
• Galician: enigma m
• German: Rätsel (de) m
• Greek: αίνιγμα (el) n (aínigma)

• Hebrew: חִידָה‎ (he) f (ḥidá)
• Icelandic: ráðgáta
• Italian: enigma (it) m
• Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo)
• Norwegian: forunderlig (no) (formally), uforståelig (no)
• Occitan: enigma
• Persian: معما‎ (fa) (mo'ammâ)
• Portuguese: enigma (pt) m, mistério (pt) m
• Russian: зага́дка (ru) f (zagádka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal m, dubh-cheist f
• Spanish: enigma (es) m
• Swedish: enigma (sv)
• Walloon: cwacwa (wa) m, enike (wa) f

riddle, or a difficult problem

• Armenian: հանելուկ (hy) (haneluk)
• Bulgarian: загадка (bg) f (zagadka)
• Dutch: raadsel (nl), enigma (nl)
• Esperanto: enigmo (eo)
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
• Greek: αίνιγμα (el) n (aínigma), (maths) πρόβλημα (el) n (próvlima)
• Icelandic: ráðgáta
• Italian: enigma (it) m, indovinello (it) m

• Persian: معما‎ (fa) (mo'ammâ)
• Polish: zagadka (pl) f, enigma (pl) f
• Portuguese: enigma (pt) m
• Russian: зага́дка (ru) f (zagádka), головоло́мка (ru) f (golovolómka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal m, dubh-cheist f
• Swedish: enigma (sv)
• Tagalog: hibat

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} غامض‎
• French: ^{(please verify)} énigme (fr) f
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} enigma
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} aenigma n

• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 神秘的事物 (zh) (shén mì de shì wù)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} enigmă (ro) f
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} záhada f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} enigma (es) m

Anagrams

• gamine, imagen, in-game

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Asturian

Etymology

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

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmes)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmáticu

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Basque

Etymology

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

Noun

enigma

1. enigma

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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.

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Esperanto

Etymology

enigmo +‎ -a

Adjective

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

1. enigmatic

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Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeniɡmɑ/, [ˈe̞niɡmɑ]
• Hyphenation: 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

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Galician

Etymology

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

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmático

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Italian

Etymology

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

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmi)

1. enigma, riddle, conundrum

Synonyms

• giallo
• mistero

Related terms

• enigmatico
• enigmista
• enigmistica
• enigmistico

Anagrams

• gemina, igname

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /eˈniɡ.ma/, [ɛˈnɪɡ.ma]

Noun

enigma n (genitive enigmatis); third declension

1. Alternative form of aenigma

Inflection

Third declension neuter.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	enigma	enigmata
Genitive	enigmatis	enigmatum
Dative	enigmatī	enigmatibus
Accusative	enigma	enigmata
Ablative	enigmate	enigmatibus
Vocative	enigma	enigmata

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Portuguese

Etymology

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

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

1. enigma

Related terms

• enigmático

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Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈniɡma/, [eˈniɣma]

Noun

enigma m (plural enigmas)

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

Related terms

• enigmático
• enigmáticamente

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• gemina