Intricate

How to spell intricate

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce intricate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intricate mean?

1. adjectiveHaving many small parts or details arranged in a complex, finely connected way.

Intricate in a sentence

• The watchmaker repaired the intricate mechanism with tiny tools.

• The contract contained an intricate web of clauses and exceptions.

Where does intricate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin intricatus, the past participle of intricare, a verb meaning 'to entangle' or 'to perplex'. That verb was built from the prefix in- 'in, into' and the noun tricae, which literally meant 'trifles', 'tangles', or 'troublesome little obstacles', the small hindrances that trip you up. So something intricate was originally something all tangled up and hard to unravel, and the modern sense of 'elaborately complex, with many fine interconnected parts' grew naturally from that image of entanglement. English adopted it in the 1400s, taking the Latin past participle directly rather than through French. The very same tricae root sits behind the words 'trick' and 'intrigue', a useful reminder that the hard-to-spell middle of intricate is t-r-i-c, the same cluster you hear in 'trick'.

How the word is built

• in- (in, into)
• tric (from Latin tricae: trifles, entanglements, perplexities)
• -ate (adjective suffix)