I'm looking for an adjective which means "few people know", "only professionals know"

I'm looking for an adjective which means "few people know" or "only professionals know".

Especially, I want to describe settlement & clearing fields as "__________ fields".

Here is a full sample sentence. "I needed to learn the business model of XXXXX (the name of company which provides clearing services). However, because settlement & clearing is a very _____ field, it was very difficult to research by myself."

I came up with a word "esoteric" and found other posts discussing this word, but I'm not quite sure this word can be applied to context above for the following two reasons. 1. I thought "esoteric" means something like very eccentric hobbies, not formal things. Therefore, if I refer to settlement & clearing as "esoteric fields", it may sound humorous. 2. I'm not sure how frequently this word is used by native speakers.


Solution 1:

I’d go with specialized. The knowledge is not arcane or abstruse; it is merely possessed by few people.

specialized

(speʃəlaɪzd )

ADJECTIVE Someone or something that is specialized is trained or developed for a particular purpose or area of knowledge. COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/specialized

Solution 2:

An abstruse field is one that is

hard to understand; recondite; esoteric

Solution 3:

"...only professionals know.", because settlement & clearing is a very _____ field, it was very difficult to research by myself."

A technical field comes to mind.

  • technical - marked by or characteristic of specialization. (technical language)
  • technical - Used in or peculiar to a specific field or profession; specialized: technical jargon. Requiring advanced skills or specialized equipment: technical mountain climbing.
  • It's a job that requires technical knowledge.

  • A book about such technical fields as engineering, physical and applied sciences.

Solution 4:

Obscure can work.

relatively unknown

MW