Trickiness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being complicated or deceptive in nature, often requiring skillful handling to avoid pitfalls
2. A quality marked by the presence of challenges and intricacies that necessitate astute judgment
3. The characteristic of involving complexity and requiring careful navigation to manage successfully

Etymology: "Trickiness" is a plain formation: the adjective "tricky" with the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. The suffix has been part of English since Old English, when "-nes" attached to adjectives to form abstract nouns, and it remains one of the most productive ways to make new nouns in the language. The base word, "tricky," grew from "trick," which entered English from Old French "trique" with the sense of a deceptive device or stratagem. The adjective "tricky" followed in the sense of being full of tricks or hard to deal with, and "trickiness" is the state of being that way, whether a situation is intricate or a person is crafty.

Synonyms: cunning, deception, slyness

Antonyms: honesty, straightforwardness