Word of the Day: riddle

Riddle (noun) RID-ul

Definition

1 : a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed : conundrum, enigma

2 : something or someone difficult to understand

Examples

Despite Nick’s outgoing nature, he doesn’t share many details about his background and personal life, so he remains something of a riddle.

“Stewart’s books are for children who like mysteries and riddles, and there are many scenes where readers hold their breath in suspense.” — Clara Martin, The Clarion-Ledger, 16 Oct. 2016

Did You Know?

It is not unusual for words to acquire and lose meanings over time, and riddle is no exception. Old English speakers—who had a variety of spellings for riddle, including hrædels, redelse, and rædelse—used the word as we do today to describe a question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed, but they also used it in the now obsolete senses of “counsel,” “consideration,” “debate,” “conjecture,” “interpretation,” “imagination,” and “example.” (Not surprisingly, the Old English source of riddle is a cousin to Old English rǣdan, meaning “to interpret” or “to advise.”) By the beginning of the 15th century riddle acquired the sense of “a puzzling or perplexing thing,” and in the 17th century it also came to refer to “a puzzling or enigmatic person or being.”

My Take

Riddle me this. Who has the creative soul to paint, draw, write and publish, can solve problems and issues with computers, software and a leaky roof, and yet, can’t solve the simplest of riddles?

Me

That’s right. I suck at solving word riddles. I have no idea why but I seem to stumble every time. Take, for example, the riddle I included in this post. I couldn’t solve it. Perhaps it has something to do with the lingering symptoms of my concussion, or maybe not.

The answer is … check the bottom of this post.

If you share this post via Twitter, you will receive a sexy bonus picture related to today’s word.

I love learning the different contexts of these words of the day. Do you? Please share your comments. I’m sure we would all like to read them.

Have a great day.

Brought to you by Merriam-Webster, Word of the Day.

A jigsaw puzzle piece.