arcane

adjective

ar·​cane är-ˈkān 

: known or knowable only to a few people : secret

arcane rites

an arcane ritual

broadly : mysterious, obscure

arcane explanations

arcane technical details

Synonyms of arcane

• esoteric
• profound

Examples of arcane in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cheng grew up in the southern city of Tainan, the daughter of a Taiwanese mother and a KMT soldier father from China’s southwestern Yunnan province, who fled to Taiwan in 1953 via Southeast Asia’s arcane Golden Triangle. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Aug. 2026

All the weirdo arcane seemingly head-scratching things are just this the honest documentary of us as kids in the late ’90s in Tempe, Arizona, and the surrounding area. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2026

So why is a space reporter writing about this arcane corner of American history? — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 22 July 2026

The process was an arcane, possibly unworkable attempt to solve a problem—widespread noncitizen voting—that simply doesn’t exist. — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin arcānus "secret, private, intimate," from arca "chest, coffer, box" + -ānus -an entry 2 — more at ark

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for arcane

• abstain
• airplane
• alkane
• arraign
• attain
• backplane
• betaine
• biplane
• blockchain
• butane
• campaign
• cetane