explicandum
/ˌɛksplɪˈkændəm/
noun
- A thing that needs to be explained; the subject of an explanation.
- The strange behavior of the animal was the explicandum for the biologist's research.
- Every scientific investigation begins with an explicandum—something observed that requires an explanation.
- In philosophy class, the professor asked us to identify the explicandum before proposing a theory.