Befuzzle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Making someone unable to think clearly or understand something, leaving them confused and muddled
2. To cloud a person's mind so that they feel bewildered and unable to follow what is happening
3. Causing a state of confusion in which a person loses track of their thoughts and cannot make sense of matters

Etymology: "Befuzzle" is a blend of two older English words, "befuddle" and "puzzle." Blends like this are made by fusing the start of one word with the end of another, and the result carries the sense of both: to confuse and to perplex at once. "Befuddle" itself is the older of the two parents, formed from "be-" added to "fuddle," a word for intoxication or muddled drinking. The same process produced "confuzzle," a close relative that blends "confuse" with "puzzle" in a similar way. Both sit in a family of playful, mock-serious coinages in which the "fuzz" sound suggests fuzziness of thought. The word works as a verb meaning to bewilder or muddle someone, and it reads as informal and lighthearted rather than formal.

Synonyms: befuddle, confuse, bewilder, perplex, muddle

Antonyms: clarify, enlighten