Intrigue

How to spell intrigue

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce intrigue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intrigue mean?

1. verbTo arouse the curiosity or interest of someone.
2. nounSecret or underhand scheming, often to achieve some hidden aim.

Intrigue in a sentence

• verb

  The unusual job advert seemed to intrigue every candidate.

• noun

  The office was full of intrigue over who would take the manager's post.

• verb

  The strange noise in the attic began to intrigue the whole family.

• noun

  The novel is packed with political intrigue and shifting loyalties.

Where does intrigue come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin verb intricare, meaning 'to entangle' or 'to perplex', which was built from in- ('into') and tricae, a colourful Latin noun for 'trifles', 'tricks', or 'tangled difficulties'. From Latin it passed into Italian as intrigare, 'to plot or complicate', and the noun intrigo for a scheme; French then borrowed it as intriguer and intrigue. English took the word from French in the early 1600s, first for the noun sense of secret plotting and underhand scheming. The sense of 'arousing curiosity' developed later, as a plot that entangles the mind also fascinates it. The buried Latin tricae is also the distant relative of our everyday word 'trick', and that 'tric' core is worth remembering, since the spelling keeps the silent 'u' from French before the final 'e'.

How the word is built

• in- (in, into)
• tric (from Latin tricae: trifles, entanglements)
• -ue (verb/noun ending via French)