perplex

Etymology

Most dictionaries take the verb as a back-formation from perplexed,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} which extended an older adjective of the same spelling, now obsolete.^[4][3][8] The OED, revised in December 2005, instead derives the verb directly from that adjective by conversion, and records it slightly before perplexed.^[9] The adjective is from Latin perplexus (“involved, confused, intricate”),^[9][3][10] perhaps partly through Middle French perplexe.^[2][4][5] The Latin word is formed from per- (“through, thoroughly”) and plexus (“interwoven, entangled”), the past participle of plectō (“to plait, interweave”),^{[9][3][11][12]} from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[3] There was no corresponding compound verb in Latin.^[9][3] Barnhart thinks the adjective was probably also influenced by the older noun perplexity.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To puzzle or baffle a person: 1477, in Earl Rivers's translation of the Dictes or Sayengis.^[9] Barnhart's first verb is from 1595, in Shakespeare's King John,^[2] and Etymonline dates the verb to the 1590s.^[3] The adjective is older: the MED and the OED first find it in a text of Wyclif's from before 1425, where the pope's law "makiþ hem perplex".^[10][9][2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a description of a state of mind, and only then produced a verb, the latest of the group according to Etymonline.^[3] By the late 15th century the adjective was shifting to the form perplexed, probably to match other past-participle adjectives, and it was obsolete by the 17th century.^[3][5] Johnson (1755) still entered the adjective as "intricate; difficult", but noted that perplexed was the word in use.^[13] The verb soon moved from the person to the matter, meaning to make a subject complicated or hard to deal with: the OED has this from 1547,^[9] Etymonline from the 1610s.^[3] A stronger sense, to trouble or torment, appears in Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) and is now rare,^[9][5] and a physical sense, to tangle or intertwine, lasted from 1642 to 1860.^[9] A rare noun, meaning perplexity, was formed in the 17th century.^[9][5]

Timeline

• before 1425 – adjective, confused, puzzled.^[9][10][2]
• 1477 – verb, to puzzle, baffle.^[9] Barnhart dates it to 1595.^[2]
• 1547 – to make a matter complicated or difficult.^[9] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1610s.^[3]
• 1590 – to trouble, torment, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.^[9]
• 1623 – intransitive, to give rise to perplexity (rare).^[9]
• 1642 – to tangle, intertwine (obsolete by 1860).^[9]
• 1652 – noun, perplexity.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To puzzle or bewilder someone; to fill with doubt or uncertainty: The sudden change of plan perplexed the whole committee.^{[11][14][7][9]}
2. To make a matter intricate or hard to understand; to complicate: Needless jargon only perplexes the argument.^{[11][14][7][9]}
3. (rare) To trouble or torment.^[9][5]

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Confused, perplexed; of a matter, intricate or difficult.^{[9][5][10][13]}

Noun

1. (rare) Perplexity.^[9][5]

Word family

• perplexingly
• perplexer

Related words

• perplexed
• perplexity
• plexus
• complex
• ply
• plait

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins