Complexity
nounThe state or quality of having many interconnected parts that make something difficult to understand or deal with.
How to spell complexity
10 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce complexity
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does complexity mean?
- nounThe state or quality of having many interconnected parts that make something difficult to understand or deal with.
Complexity in a sentence
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The sheer complexity of the tax rules left her reaching for an accountant.
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Engineers underestimated the complexity of wiring the new building.
Where does complexity come from?
Language of origin: Latin
Complexity comes ultimately from the Latin complexus, the past participle of complecti, which meant 'to embrace' or 'to encircle', built from com- 'together' and plectere 'to weave or plait'. The literal image is of strands woven together, which is why anything complex is something whose parts are tangled or intertwined. English took 'complex' from the French complexe and the Latin source in the seventeenth century, and the abstract noun 'complexity' followed, naming the quality or state of being intricate. The same plectere root weaves through relatives like 'plait', 'perplex', and 'ply'. For spellers the trap is the middle: the unstressed 'plex' sits before '-ity', and the word keeps a single 'x' and the same '-ity' ending as similar nouns such as 'simplicity'.
How the word is built
- com- (together)
- plex (from plectere: to weave or plait)
- -ity (noun-forming suffix)
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