English → Latin
“intricate” in Latin
impediōto hinder, impede, prevent, obstruct, hamper, thwart; to embarrassperplexusentangled, involved, intricate, confused; unintelligible, complicated, intricate, inscrutable, ambiguous; dark, obscuredifficilisdifficult, hard, troublesome; obstinate, intractable, hard to please or manageinexplicābilisinexplicablesilvawood; forest; orchard; grovenāvigātiōThe act of sailing or voyaging; voyage, navigation.figūrashape, form, figure; shape; taunt, quip, jibesermōa conversation, discussion; a rumor, diction, speech, talk, discourse; a language, manner of speaking
The English word intricate itself goes back to Latin trīcae, through intrīcātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
intricate
impedītus (presenting many obstacles; e.g., iter, silva, saltus, locus, navigatio): perplexus (entangled, etc., figuratively, iter, Verg.; figurae, Lucr.; sermones, Liv.): difficilis (difficult): ☞ Not intricatus, which is prae- and post-classical): inexplicabilis (via, Liv., 40, 33, in which passage, however, it means “impassable;” res, Cic., Att. 8, 3, 6). The intricate paths (of a labyrinth), itinerum ambages, occursusque et recursus inexplicabiles (Plin.). An intricate affair, res impedita, or contorta, or difficilis, or contorta et difficilis; res difficilis et inexplicabilis (Cic., Att., 8, 3, 6): a difficult and intricate task, magnum et arduum opus: an affair is very intricate, res in magnis difficultatibus est.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for intricate?
- The usual Latin words for “intricate” are impediō, perplexus, difficilis; also inexplicābilis, silva, nāvigātiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.