esoteric

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Word of the Day for May 21 is:

esoteric   \es-uh-TAIR-ik\   adjective
    *1 : designed for or understood by a small number of people; broadly: 
difficult to understand
     2 : private, confidential

Example sentence:
     Computer programming was once an esoteric subject, but beginner courses 
and how-to books have made it easier to grasp.

Did you know?
     The opposite of "esoteric" is "exoteric," which means "suitable to be 
imparted to the public." According to one account, those who were deemed worthy 
to attend Aristotle's learned discussions were known as his "esoterics," his 
confidants, while those who merely attended his popular evening lectures were 
called his "exoterics." Since material that is geared toward a target audience 
is often not as easily comprehensible to outside observers, "esoteric" acquired 
an extended meaning of "difficult to understand." Both "esoteric" and 
"exoteric" started appearing in English in the mid-1600s; "esoteric" traces 
back to ancient Greece by way of the Late Latin "esotericus"; the Greek 
"esoterikos" comes from the comparative form of "eiso," which means "within." 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. 




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