puzzle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpʌz.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is of unknown origin.^[2][3][4] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest it may be a frequentative of pose in its obsolete sense, to perplex, as nuzzle is of nose,^[5][6] but Word Origins finds the evidence for a link with pose weak and thinks puzzle probably arose independently.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bewilder, confound: 1582 in Merriam-Webster;^[4] about 1595 as pusle in Barnhart, the 1590s in Etymonline.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

To exercise one's mind on a problem, be perplexed, is first recorded in 1605.^[5] The noun, a puzzled condition, is from 1607–12, in Bacon's Essays,^[5][8] a hard problem from 1655,^[5][8] and a toy made to test one's ingenuity from 1814.^[6][8] A picture cut into pieces to be put together, the jigsaw puzzle, is first attested about 1815.^[5] Puzzler is from before 1652 and puzzlement from 1822.^[5]

Timeline

• 1582 – to puzzle.^[4]
• 1605 – to be perplexed.^[5]
• 1607–12 – a puzzled state (noun).^[5][8]
• 1655 – a hard problem.^[8]
• 1814 – a toy puzzle.^[6][8]
• 1822 – puzzlement.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A game, toy or problem that tests ingenuity, such as a jigsaw or crossword.
2. Something hard to understand; a mystery.

Verb

1. To baffle or confuse.
2. To think hard about a problem, with over.
3. To work out by careful thought, with out.

Word family

• puzzler
• puzzledly
• puzzledness
• puzzleheaded
• unpuzzle
• puzzlement
• puzzling
• monkey puzzle

Related words

• pose
• nuzzle

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press