Blindfolded

How to spell blindfolded

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce blindfolded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does blindfolded mean?

1. adjectiveHaving the eyes covered with a cloth so that one cannot see.
2. verbCovered someone's eyes with a cloth so that they could not see.

Blindfolded in a sentence

• adjective

  The blindfolded contestant had to identify each spice by smell alone.

• verb

  The magician blindfolded his assistant before the trick began.

• adjective

  A blindfolded taste test removed any bias toward a familiar brand.

• verb

  The organisers blindfolded each volunteer to keep the surprise hidden.

Where does blindfolded come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word looks transparent, but its history hides a small surprise. The original term was the Middle English 'blindfellen', meaning literally 'to strike blind', built from 'blind' plus 'fellen', the same verb that gives us 'fell' (to knock down a tree or an opponent). The past participle 'blindfeld' meant 'struck blind' or 'made unable to see'. Over time speakers no longer recognised the old 'fell' element and reinterpreted it as 'fold', since covering the eyes naturally involves folding a cloth around the head, and the spelling settled into 'blindfold' by the sixteenth century. The form 'blindfolded' simply adds the regular '-ed' ending for the past tense and the adjective. Both 'blind' and 'fold' are native Germanic words from Old English, which is why the word feels so plain even though its second half is a quiet etymological accident.

How the word is built

• blind (unable to see)
• fold (from Middle English 'fellen' to strike, later reshaped to 'fold' meaning to wrap/cover)
• -ed (past tense/adjective suffix)