Adventures in Etymology – Entangled Perplexity
From Radio Omniglot by Simon Ager
April 25, 2026 · 2 min · Season 1 · Episode 186
About this episode
This episode explores the etymology and meaning of the word 'perplexity'.
In this Adventure in Etymology we untangle the perplexing roots of the word perplexity. Perplexity [pəˈplɛksɪti / pəɹˈplɛksəti] is: The state or quality of being perplexed (puzzled, confused, bewildered) Something that perplexes. (information theory) A measure of how well a probability distribution or model predicts a sample. It comes from Middle English perplexite ([a state […]
People in this episode
Host: Simon Ager
Topics covered
- etymology
- language
- perplexity
- information theory
- word origins
Keywords
- perplexity
- etymology
- language
- information theory
- word origins
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Adventures in Etymology – Entangled Perplexity
Places: Middle English
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