puzzle

See also: Puzzle

English

Rubik's cube is a type of puzzle.

Etymology

Origin uncertain; originally pusle. Possibly from pose (“to perplex, puzzle, interrogate”) +‎ -le (frequentative suffix). The verb (1590s) “to perplex” seems to predate the noun “state of being perplexed” (circa 1600), “perplexing question” (1650s), “toy” (1814).[1]

Pronunciation

  • enPR: pŭzʹəl, IPA(key): /ˈpʌzəl/
Audio (CA)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌzəl

Noun

puzzle (plural puzzles)

  1. Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.
    Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.
  2. A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
  3. A crossword puzzle.
  4. A jigsaw puzzle.
  5. A riddle.
  6. (archaic) Something made with marvellous skill; something of ingenious construction.
  7. The state of being puzzled; perplexity.
    to be in a puzzle

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

puzzle (third-person singular simple present puzzles, present participle puzzling, simple past and past participle puzzled)

  1. (transitive) To perplex (someone).
    • Henry More (1614-1687)
      A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in puzzling others, if they be not thoroughpaced speculators in those great theories.
    • Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
      He is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders.
    • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
      The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
  2. To make intricate; to entangle.
    • Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
      The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, / Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with error.
    • William Cowper (1731-1800)
      They disentangle from the puzzled skein.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:confuse

Derived terms

  • puzzle over
  • puzzle through

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “puzzle” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Anagrams

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English puzzle.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpazl̩/, /ˈput͡sle/

Noun

puzzle m

  1. jigsaw puzzle

Usage notes

Also used as an indeclinable noun of various genders, most often neuter.[2]

Although the correct pronunciation of this word, which has been borrowed from English, is /ˈpazl̩/, another common informal pronunciation is /ˈput͡sle/, which is a hyperforeignism, trying to apply either Italian (as in pizza) or more probably German pronunciation rules.[3] However, both Italian and German pronunciation of the word puzzle is different.

Declension

References

  1. ↑ puzzle in Jiří Rejzek, Český etymologický slovník, electronic version, Leda, 2007
  2. ↑ puzzle in Internetová jazyková příručka, Institute of the Czech Language of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
  3. ↑ Z dopisů jazykové poradně, Naše řeč, volume 82 (1999), issue 5

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English puzzle.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pœzl/
  • audio(file)

Noun

puzzle m (plural puzzles)

  1. jigsaw puzzle

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English puzzle.

Noun

puzzle m (invariable)

  1. jigsaw puzzle
  2. (by extension) A difficult problem

Spanish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from English puzzle.

Pronunciation

IPA(key): (Latin America) /ˈpusle/, [ˈpusle]

Noun

puzzle m (plural puzzles)

  1. jigsaw puzzle
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