Puzzle

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈpʌzl̩/

Definitions

1. A problem or game designed to test ingenuity or knowledge, requiring careful thought to solve
2. A game or problem that challenges one’s intellect or creativity, demanding careful analysis and critical thinking to arrive at a solution
3. A challenge consisting of a riddle or problem that engages the mind, necessitating logical reasoning and deduction to resolve

Etymology: The verb came first, and its origin is genuinely unsettled. Scholars have linked it to a family of Germanic and Scandinavian words meaning to potter, tinker or trifle over small tasks, such as Dutch "peuzelen" and Danish "pusle," which suggests a sense of fiddling about with minor work long before anyone was trying to solve anything. The most striking candidate is an Old English verb "puslian," meaning to pick out the best bits, which could have drifted from selecting to hesitating over a choice and then to being bewildered. The trouble is that no intermediate meanings survive in Middle English or later texts to confirm that path. A second theory treats it as the obsolete verb "pose," meaning to question, with a frequentative ending added. The Oxford English Dictionary doubts this, because early spellings consistently use a "u" where "pose" would predict an "o," a vowel shift that is hard to explain. The noun sense of a problem to be solved came later, and the sense of a puzzle as a pastime is a further extension, reflecting the idea of a task that absorbs the mind through careful, bewildered effort.

Synonyms: enigma, mystery, riddle, conundrum, problem

Antonyms: solution, answer, clarity, certainty, simplicity