Difficult Words About Difficulty

Life may be hard, but talking about it shouldn't be

Saturdays are perfect days for baffling surprises. Surprise—we’re talking about words describing difficulty today!

Mastering the full lexicon (definition) of a language is far from easy. Even worse is when you want to express how difficult a task or challenge is but the right word escapes you. Plenty of English words describing difficulty like abstruse, arduous, convoluted, and perplexing are derived from important roots. Others like Byzantine and labyrinthine come from the names of places. Look out for the really good difficulty words that have more recondite origins…

baffling (adj) - extremely confusing; difficult to understand or explain (possibly related to French bafouer meaning to abuse or hoodwink.)

hermetic (adj) - of or pertaining to ancient occult traditions (derived from Hermes, the Greek analog of Mercury)

knotty (adj) - extremely complicated, intricate, or difficult ; figuratively full of knots (Many old Germanic languages used a variant of knot to describe the intertwining of ropes and cords.)

recondite (adj) - largely unknown; difficult or impossible to understand (from Latin reconditus meaning to store away or conceal)

thorny (adj) - causing distress, difficulty, or disagreement; painful to navigate (from Old English þorn  meaning sharp point on a stem or branch)

“Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.” —A. P. J. Abdul Kalam