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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

exoteric.

Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˌɛksə(ʊ)ˈtɛɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌɛksəˈtɛɹɪk/General-American
  1. Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.

  2. Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations. Of a person: not part of an enlightened inner circle; not privy to esoteric knowledge.

    broadly
  3. Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public; accessible; also, having an obvious application.

  4. External.

    archaic
  5. Having wide currency; popular, prevalent.

    archaic · rare
Where this word comes from

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin exōtericus + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Exōtericus is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐξωτερῐκός (exōterĭkós, “exterior, external, outside”, adjective), from ἐξωτέρω (exōtérō, “more exterior”) (the comparative form of ἔξω (éxō, “external, outer”) (ultimately from ἐκ (ek, “beyond; outside”, preposition), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + -τέρω (-térō) (an inflected form of -τερος (-teros, suffix forming comparative forms)) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective.

noun/ˌɛksə(ʊ)ˈtɛɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌɛksəˈtɛɹɪk/General-American
  1. A person who is not part of an enlightened inner circle, and not privy to esoteric knowledge.

Where this word comes from

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin exōtericus + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Exōtericus is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐξωτερῐκός (exōterĭkós, “exterior, external, outside”, adjective), from ἐξωτέρω (exōtérō, “more exterior”) (the comparative form of ἔξω (éxō, “external, outer”) (ultimately from ἐκ (ek, “beyond; outside”, preposition), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + -τέρω (-térō) (an inflected form of -τερος (-teros, suffix forming comparative forms)) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.