Apocrypha
|a-poc-ry-pha|
🇺🇸
/əˈpɑːkrɪfə/
🇬🇧
/əˈpɒkrɪfə/
hidden or noncanonical writings
Etymology
'Apocrypha' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apókrupha', where 'apo-' meant 'away, off' and 'kruptos' (from 'kryptein') meant 'hidden' (so 'hidden things').
'Apocrypha' passed into Late Latin and Church Latin as 'apocrypha' from Greek 'apókrupha' and was borrowed into Middle English (via Medieval Latin) as 'apocrypha', keeping its form into modern English.
Initially, it meant 'hidden things' or 'things concealed'; over time it came to mean specifically 'writings of doubtful authenticity' or 'books excluded from the canonical scriptures.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
writings of doubtful authenticity or books not considered part of the canonical scriptures (especially writings associated with the Bible but excluded from the standard canon).
Many early Protestant Bibles printed the Apocrypha separately from the canonical books.
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Noun 2
a work (or works) of doubtful authenticity; sometimes used collectively to refer to such disputed writings.
Scholars disagreed about whether any of the Apocrypha could be considered historically reliable.
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Last updated: 2025/12/10 06:07