A mystique is a glamorous air of mystery around somebody. The mystique of the profession, lose its mystique, a certain mystique.
It depends on distance, which is why explaining a thing destroys it — the mystique of a trade or a performer rarely survives close acquaintance. It is a doublet of mystic, arriving later and through French with the glamour attached.
1nounmystiqueA glamorous air of mystery around somebody.
“Part of the singer's mystique is that she never gives interviews.”
mystique is an air of mystery.
MYS-tique → MIST
She walks into the party and a thin mist follows her from door to door. Nobody ever sees her face clearly, and nobody stops talking about her.
hooks ontomist
French mystique comes from Latin mysticus, from Greek mystikos, of the mysteries. Mystic is the same word, arriving earlier.
French
mystique
English, today
mystique
Borrowed from French mystique. French mystique (“a mystic”), from Latin mysticus. See also the doublet a doublet of mystic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA