puzzle

See also Puzzle

English

Wikipedia

A puzzle of Rubik's cube.

Etymology

Origin uncertain, originally pusle, possibly pose (“to perplex”) +‎ -le (“(frequentive, diminutive)”). The verb (1590s) “to perplex” seems to predate the noun “state of being perplexed” (circa 1600), “perplexing question” (1650s), “toy” (1814).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pŭzʹəl, IPA: /ˈpʌzəl/, X-SAMPA: /"pVz@l/

Audio (CA)

(file)

• Rhymes: -ʌzəl

Noun

puzzle (plural puzzles)

1. Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.

   Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.

2. A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
3. A crossword puzzle.
4. A jigsaw puzzle.
5. A riddle.
6. (archaic) Something made with marvellous skill; something of ingenious construction.
7. The state of being puzzled; perplexity.

   to be in a puzzle

Synonyms

• (anything difficult to understand or make sense of): anybody's guess, anyone's guess, conundrum, enigma, mystery
• (game for one person): brain-teaser, poser
• (crossword puzzle): crossword, crossword puzzle
• (jigsaw puzzle): jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle
• (riddle): guessing game, riddle

Derived terms

Chinese puzzle crossword puzzle jigsaw puzzle monkey puzzle

puzzle out puzzle over puzzled

puzzlement puzzler puzzling

Translations

anything difficult to understand or make sense of

• Arabic: لغز (ar) (lughz) m, أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, معضلة (ar) (mu`Dila) f
• Chinese: 迷惑 (míhuo)

  Mandarin: 迷惑 (cmn) (míhuo), 謎 (cmn), 谜 (cmn) (mí), 難題 (cmn), 难题 (cmn) (nántí)

• Czech: záhada (cs) f
• Dutch: mysterie (nl) n, raadsel (nl) n
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
• French: mystère (fr) m, énigme (fr) f
• German: Rätsel (de) n
• Hungarian: rejtvény (hu)
• Italian: mistero (it) m
• Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo), パズル (ja) (pazuru)

• Korean: 수수께끼 (susukkekki)
• Macedonian: загатка (mk) (zágatka) f
• Portuguese: enigma (pt) m
• Russian: загадка (ru) (zagádka) f, затруднение (ru) (zatrudnénije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: zȁgonētka (sh) f
• Spanish: rompecabezas (es) m
• Swedish: huvudbry (sv) n
• Turkish: bulmaca (tr)
• Vietnamese: sự bối rối, sự khó xử, vấn đề khó xử, vấn đề khó giải quyết, vấn đề nan giải

game for one person

• Arabic: أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, لغز (ar) (lughz) m, بازل (ar) (baazl) m
• Belarusian: галаваломка (be) (halavalómka) f
• Bulgarian: главоблъсканица (bg) (glavoblăskanica) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 猜謎游戲 (cmn), 猜谜游戏 (cmn) (cāimí yóuxì), 智力游戲 (cmn), 智力游戏 (cmn) (zhìlì yóuxì)

• Czech: hlavolam (cs) m
• Dutch: puzzel (nl), raadsel (nl) n, hersenbreker (nl) m
• Finnish: pulma (fi), pähkinä (fi), tehtävä (fi)
• French: puzzle (fr) m, casse-tête (fr) m, jeu de patience (fr) m
• German: Puzzle (de) n, Geduldspiel (de) n, Geduldsspiel (de) n
• Icelandic: púsl (is) n
• Italian: rompicapo (it) m
• Japanese: パズル (ja) (pazuru)

• Macedonian: загатка (mk) (zagatka) f
• Polish: łamigłówka (pl) f
• Russian: головоломка (ru) (golovolómka) f, пазл (ru) (pazl) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: загонетка (sh) f

  Roman: zagonetka (sh) f

• Slovak: hlavolam (sk) m
• Slovene: uganka (sl) f
• Spanish: rompecabezas (es) m, puzle (es) m
• Swedish: pussel (sv) n
• Ukrainian: головоломка (uk) (holovolómka) f, пазл (uk) (pazl) m
• Vietnamese: trò chơi đố, câu đố

crossword puzzle — see crossword

jigsaw puzzle — see jigsaw puzzle

riddle

• Arabic: لغز (ar) (lughz) m, أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, معضلة (ar) (mu`Dila) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謎語 (cmn), 谜语 (cmn) (míyǔ)

• Czech: hádanka (cs) f
• Dutch: raadsel (nl) n
• Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
• French: devinette (fr) f
• German: Rätsel (de) n
• Italian: indovinello (it) m
• Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo), 判じ物 (ja) (はんじもの, hanjimono), パズル (ja) (pazuru)
• Macedonian: гатанка (mk) (gátanka) f
• Malay: teka-teki (ms)

• Polish: zagadka (pl) f, rebus (pl) m
• Portuguese: charada (pt) f, enigma (pt) m
• Russian: загадка (ru) (zagádka) f, ребус (ru) (rébus) m
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: загонетка (sh) f

  Roman: zagonetka (sh) f

• Slovak: hádanka (sk) f
• Spanish: enigma (es) m
• Swedish: gåta (sv) c
• Ukrainian: загадка (uk) (zahádka) f
• Vietnamese: câu đố (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: თავსატეხი (ka) (t'avsatexi)

• Slovak: hádanka f (1), hlavolam m (1, 5), div m (1), krížovka f (3)

Verb

puzzle (third-person singular simple present puzzles, present participle puzzling, simple past and past participle puzzled)

1. (transitive) To perplex (someone).

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:confuse

Derived terms

puzzled puzzle out

puzzle over puzzler

puzzling

Translations

to perplex

• Dutch: verbijsteren (nl)
• Finnish: askarruttaa (fi)
• French: rendre perplexe

• Italian: rendere perplesso
• Serbo-Croatian: zbúniti (sh), smȅsti (sh)
• Slovak: čudovať sa, diviť sa

Related terms

• puzzlement

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Czech

Noun

puzzle n

1. jigsaw puzzle

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French

Etymology

From English puzzle.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

puzzle m (plural puzzles)

1. jigsaw puzzle

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Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

puzzle m (invariable)

1. jigsaw puzzle
2. (by extension) A difficult problem