Definition
玄 (xuán) means 'mysterious, profound, abstruse' and is often used in formal or literary contexts, especially in compounds like 玄学 (metaphysics). It differs from 神秘 (shénmì), which describes something mysteriously intriguing or secretive, and from 深奥 (shēn'ào) and 深邃 (shēnsuì), which emphasize depth and difficulty of understanding. In colloquial speech, 玄 can also mean 'unreliable, far-fetched' (e.g., 太玄了).
adjective
mysteriousprofoundabstruse(colloquial) unreliablefar-fetched(dated) blackdark
Easily confused
- 亦yìlook-alikealso; as well
- 选xuǎnsound-aliketo choose, to pick, to select; to elect
- 悬xuánsound-aliketo hang, to suspend
Examples
- ，。Zhè piān lùnwén jiǎng de shì xuán xué lǐlùn, fēicháng nándǒng.This paper discusses abstruse theories and is very hard to understand.
- 玄，。Tā shuō de nà ge bànfǎ tài xuán le, wǒ zǒng juéde bù kàopǔ.The method he mentioned sounds too far-fetched; I just don't think it's reliable.
- 玄，。Gǔrén cháng chuān xuán sè yīfu, yǐ shì zhuāngzhòng.Ancient people often wore dark-colored clothes to show solemnity.
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