Complexion

How to spell complexion

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce complexion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does complexion mean?

1. nounThe natural colour, texture, and general appearance of a person's facial skin.
2. nounThe general nature, character, or aspect of something.

Complexion in a sentence

• The new moisturiser left her with a clearer complexion within weeks.

• The late signing changed the whole complexion of the team.

• Years of outdoor work gave him a ruddy complexion.

• The new evidence altered the complexion of the entire case.

Where does complexion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travels back to the Latin complexio, meaning a 'combination' or 'connection of parts', which was formed from complectere 'to embrace or encompass', itself built from com- 'together' and plectere 'to weave or braid'. The literal idea was of things woven or knitted together into a whole. In medieval medicine the word described the particular blend of the four bodily 'humours' thought to determine a person's temperament and, visibly, the look of their skin. English took it from Old French complexion in the 1300s, and over time the medical theory faded while the visible skin sense stayed, giving us the modern meaning of the natural colour and texture of the face. The spelling trap is the buried 'x' before the ending: it is spelled -xion, not -ction, a clue still preserved from that plectere 'weave' root.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• plex (woven, from Latin plectere 'to braid')
• -ion (noun suffix)