cryptic
adj.adj. having a meaning that is mysterious or hidden. You use it to describe a message or a person that is very hard to understand.
adj. having a meaning that is mysterious, obscure, or intentionally ambiguous. In a biological context, it refers to markings or coloration that serve to conceal an animal in its natural environment.
He left a cryptic message on my desk.
The detective spent hours trying to decode the cryptic symbols found at the back of the old diary.
While the poem's surface meaning seems simple, its cryptic metaphors suggest a much darker historical subtext that only scholars of the period would likely recognize.
From Late Latin crypticus, from Ancient Greek κρυπτικός (kruptikós), from κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”). Doublet of kryptic.
Often used to describe speech, writing, or visual patterns. In biology, it frequently modifies 'coloration' or 'species'.