puzzle

English

Wikipedia has an article on:

Puzzle

A puzzle of Rubik's cube.

Etymology

Origin uncertain, originally pusle, possibly pose (“to perplex”) +‎ -le (“(frequentive, diminutive)”). The verb (1590s) “to perplex” seems to predate the noun “state of being perplexed” (circa 1600), “perplexing question” (1650s), “toy” (1814).^[1]

Pronunciation

enPR: pŭzʹəl, IPA: /ˈpʌzəl/, X-SAMPA: /"pVz@l/

Audio (CA)

(file)

Rhymes: -ʌzəl

Noun

puzzle (plural puzzles)

Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.
Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.
A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
A crossword puzzle.
A jigsaw puzzle.
A riddle.
(archaic) Something made with marvellous skill; something of ingenious construction.
The state of being puzzled; perplexity.
to be in a puzzle

Synonyms

(anything difficult to understand or make sense of): anybody's guess, anyone's guess, conundrum, enigma, mystery
(game for one person): brain-teaser, poser
(crossword puzzle): crossword, crossword puzzle
(jigsaw puzzle): jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle
(riddle): guessing game, riddle

Derived terms

puzzle out
puzzle over
puzzled

Translations

anything difficult to understand or make sense of

Arabic: لغز (ar) (lughz) m, أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, معضلة (ar) (mu`Dila) f
Chinese: 迷惑 (míhuo)
Mandarin: 迷惑 (cmn) (míhuo), 謎 (cmn), 谜 (cmn) (mí), 難題 (cmn), 难题 (cmn) (nántí)
Czech: záhada (cs) f
Dutch: mysterie (nl) n, raadsel (nl) n
Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
French: mystère (fr) m, énigme (fr) f
German: Rätsel (de) n
Hungarian: rejtvény (hu)
Italian: mistero (it) m
Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo), パズル (ja) (pazuru)

Korean: 수수께끼 (susukkekki)
Macedonian: загатка (mk) (zágatka) f
Portuguese: enigma (pt) m
Russian: загадка (ru) (zagádka) f, затруднение (ru) (zatrudnénije) n
Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal (gd) m
Serbo-Croatian: zȁgonētka (sh) f
Spanish: rompecabezas (es) m
Swedish: huvudbry (sv) n
Turkish: bulmaca (tr)
Vietnamese: sự bối rối, sự khó xử, vấn đề khó xử, vấn đề khó giải quyết, vấn đề nan giải

game for one person

Arabic: أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, لغز (ar) (lughz) m, بازل (ar) (baazl) m
Belarusian: галаваломка (be) (halavalómka) f
Bulgarian: главоблъсканица (bg) (glavoblăskanica) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 猜謎游戲 (cmn), 猜谜游戏 (cmn) (cāimí yóuxì), 智力游戲 (cmn), 智力游戏 (cmn) (zhìlì yóuxì)
Czech: hlavolam (cs) m
Dutch: puzzel (nl), raadsel (nl) n, hersenbreker (nl) m
Finnish: pulma (fi), pähkinä (fi), tehtävä (fi)
French: puzzle (fr) m, casse-tête (fr) m, jeu de patience (fr) m
German: Puzzle (de) n, Geduldspiel (de) n, Geduldsspiel (de) n
Icelandic: púsl (is) n
Italian: rompicapo (it) m
Japanese: パズル (ja) (pazuru)

Macedonian: загатка (mk) (zagatka) f
Polish: łamigłówka (pl) f
Russian: головоломка (ru) (golovolómka) f, пазл (ru) (pazl) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: загонетка (sh) f

Roman: zagonetka (sh) f
Slovak: hlavolam (sk) m
Slovene: uganka (sl) f
Spanish: rompecabezas (es) m, puzle (es) m
Swedish: pussel (sv) n
Ukrainian: головоломка (uk) (holovolómka) f, пазл (uk) (pazl) m
Vietnamese: trò chơi đố, câu đố

crossword puzzle — see crossword

jigsaw puzzle — see jigsaw puzzle

riddle

Arabic: لغز (ar) (lughz) m, أحجية (ar) ('uHjíyya) f, معضلة (ar) (mu`Dila) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 謎語 (cmn), 谜语 (cmn) (míyǔ)
Czech: hádanka (cs) f
Dutch: raadsel (nl) n
Finnish: arvoitus (fi)
French: devinette (fr) f
German: Rätsel (de) n
Italian: indovinello (it) m
Japanese: 謎 (ja) (なぞ, nazo), 判じ物 (ja) (はんじもの, hanjimono), パズル (ja) (pazuru)
Macedonian: гатанка (mk) (gátanka) f
Malay: teka-teki (ms)

Polish: zagadka (pl) f, rebus (pl) m
Portuguese: charada (pt) f, enigma (pt) m
Russian: загадка (ru) (zagádka) f, ребус (ru) (rébus) m
Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal (gd) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: загонетка (sh) f

Roman: zagonetka (sh) f
Slovak: hádanka (sk) f
Spanish: enigma (es) m
Swedish: gåta (sv) c
Ukrainian: загадка (uk) (zahádka) f
Vietnamese: câu đố (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked