Abstrusive

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əbˈstɹuː.sɪv/

Definitions

1. Being marked by a quality that makes concepts hard to grasp due to their complexity or obscurity
2. The condition of being difficult to perceive or understand due to its intricate nature
3. Characterized by a nature that makes comprehension challenging due to its hidden or complicated aspects

Etymology: "Abstrusive" is a rare adjective meaning hard to grasp, and it is essentially a near-synonym of "abstruse" with an extra suffix bolted on. The root is Latin "abstrudere," meaning "to thrust away" or "to conceal," built from "ab-" (away) and "trudere" (to thrust). From its past participle stem, Latin gave English "abstruse," describing something hidden deep away from ordinary understanding, and the word's sense of being thrust out of sight carries over into the modern meaning. "Abstrusive" appears to be a later formation, created by adding the English suffix "-ive" to "abstruse." Suffixes like this one, meaning "tending toward" or "having the quality of," were frequently attached to existing English words to produce new adjectives, so "abstrusive" simply means "having an abstruse quality." Because it is so rarely used, it has never fully displaced its parent word.