puzzle

Where “puzzle” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   The state of feeling confused or mystified because one cannot understand a complicated matter, a problem, etc.; bewilderment, confusion; (countable) often in in a puzzle: an instance of this.
2. 2
   A thing such as a complicated matter or a problem which is difficult to make sense of or understand; also, a person who is difficult to make sense of or understand; an enigma.
3. 3
   Often preceded by a descriptive word: a game or toy, or a problem, requiring some effort to complete or work out, which is intended as a pastime and/or to test one's mental ability.
4. 4
   Short for puzzle-peg (“a piece of wood secured under a dog's jaw to keep the dog's nose away from the ground so that it uses the scent in the air to track its quarry, and to prevent the dog from tearing the quarry once found”).

Etymology

The verb, of uncertain origin, is attested first. Apparently cognate with Scots pousle, pouzle, poozle (“to trifle; poke or potter around aimlessly; search about with uncertainty”), Saterland Frisian puzelje (“to work hard and continuously”), West Frisian peuzelje (“to trifle, work slowly; eat slowly and daintifully, snack”), Dutch peuzelen (“to perform insignificant work, dawdle; pick at, eat with relish in small pieces, snack”), German Low German pusseln (“to tinker, fiddle; trifle”) and pöseln (“to work hard, toil; to slave away; suffer at work; work slowly and ineffectively”), German posseln, bosseln (“to perform trivial work, tinker”), Danish pusle (“to busy oneself with light work or chores; to be occupied with a task requiring ingenuity, care, and patience; to tinker”), Swedish pyssla (“to do light work; tinker; putter or potter around”), Norwegian Nynorsk pusla, putla (“to potter about”), Faroese putla (“to trifle; potter about; do one's work slowly; be dilatory”), Faroese puss (“damage, trick”). * An early form of the word is pusle, which is similar to Old English puslian (“to pick out the best bits, carefully select, cull”). It is possible that the meaning of the word evolved from “to pick out the best bits”, to “to think long and carefully in bewilderment while choosing what to pick out”, to “to think long and carefully in bewilderment”. However, there is no evidence in Middle English or modern English of any intermediate words with these meanings. * Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word is from pose (“(obsolete) to interrogate, question”) + -le (frequentative suffix). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that early forms of the word are all spelled with -u-, and that a sound change in Middle English from ō to u “is not easily accounted for”. * Finally, it has been suggested that the past participle form of the word is attested by Middle English poselet. This is thought to be unlikely by the Oxford English Dictionary as poselet is attested in only one quotation with the meaning “jostled, pushed”, which does not have any connection with the current senses of the word. The noun appears to be derived from the verb.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ppuzzle,puzle,puzlze,puzzel,puzzlle,pzuzle,upzzle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of puzzle - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Frequently Asked Questions