apophatic (adj.)

"involving a mention of something one feigns to deny; involving knowledge obtained by negation," 1850, from Latinized form of Greek apophatikos, from apophasis "denial, negation," from apophanai "to speak off," from apo "off, away from" (see apo-) + phanai "to speak," related to pheme "voice," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say."