puzzling
UK: ˈpʌz.lɪŋ | US: ˈpʌz.lɪŋ
adj. causing confusion or perplexity; difficult to understand
v. (present participle of puzzle) engaging in the act of confusing or perplexing someone
The word puzzling derives from the verb puzzle, which originated in the late 16th century, possibly as a variant of pose (to perplex) or influenced by puzzel (an archaic term meaning "to bewilder"). The suffix -ing forms the present participle, turning it into an adjective describing something that causes confusion. The morpheme puzzl retains its core meaning of perplexity, while -ing adds the grammatical function of describing an ongoing state or characteristic.
The instructions were so puzzling that no one could complete the task.
She gave him a puzzling look when he mentioned the strange incident.
The movie’s ending was deliberately puzzling to spark debate.
His behavior has been puzzling everyone lately.
The scientist faced a puzzling anomaly in the experiment’s results.