This noun denotes a riddle, enigma, or obscure saying that requires interpretation. Classical usage applied it to deliberate riddles, ambiguous oracles, and cryptic statements. Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 13:12 in the famous phrase "we see through a glass darkly" (KJV), literally "in a riddle" or "in an enigma." The term captures the indirect, unclear nature of our present knowledge of God—we perceive divine realities but only partially, as if viewing them through a puzzling, distorted medium. The contrast is between present enigmatic vision and future face-to-face clarity, between riddle and revelation.