The quality of being mysterious, obscure, or difficult to understand or interpret.
From 'cryptic' (from Greek kryptos 'hidden') plus the English suffix '-ness' indicating a state or quality. The term emerged in the early 20th century as a way to describe the abstract property of being deliberately unclear or puzzling.
Crypticness became especially important in discussing modern communication—from ancient prophecies to Tweets. We've always had mysterious messages, but the word itself reflects how scientific we've become about analyzing what makes something intentionally hard to understand.
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