intricate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intrīcātus (“entangled”), the past participle of intrīcō (“to entangle, perplex, embarrass”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from in- (“in, into”) and trīcae (“trifles, tricks, perplexities, hindrances”),^[2][3][5][6] a plural noun of unknown origin.^[5][7][3] The OED and the SOED connect it with trīcor (“to raise difficulties, play tricks”),^[2][6] which Ayto takes as the probable source, through French, of trick,^[7] and Merriam-Webster suggests that trīcae is perhaps akin to torqueō (“to twist”).^[8] Barnhart adds that the word may in some cases have come through Old French entriqué or Old Occitan intricat.^[5] It is related to extricate and intrigue.^[3][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physically entangled, as a technical term in medicine: probably before 1425, in Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[5][3] The OED's first record, from Henryson's Fables (probably before 1500), is of statements that are involved and obscure in meaning.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "perplexingly entangled, complicated" is recorded from 1579, in the dedicatory epistle to Spenser's Shepheardes Calender.^[5][2] From 1526 to 1528 intricate also meant "entangled in" something,^[2] and in 1664 it was briefly a noun, "an intricacy".^[2] A verb intricate, to entangle or to make involved, was borrowed from the same Latin stem in 1548;^[2][6] Johnson (1755) called it "not proper, nor in use".^[11] The noun intricacy followed in 1602.^[5]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – physically entangled, in medical writing.^[5][3]
• before 1500 – of statements, involved, obscure.^[2]
• 1548 – verb, to entangle or ensnare.^[2]
• 1579 – perplexingly entangled or complicated.^[5][2]
• 1602 – intricacy.^[5]
• 1826 – in entomology, of markings.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having many small parts or details arranged in a complex way: an intricate lace pattern.^[12][8][2]
2. Hard to follow or understand; complicated or involved: an intricate plot.^[12][8][2]

Verb

1. (rare) To make complicated, or to entangle.^[2][6][8]

Word family

• intricately
• intricateness
• intricacy
• unintricate

Related words

• extricate
• intrigue
• trick

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins