The story
- Latin · borrowed fromcomplicātus
- English todaycomplicate
First attested in the early 17th century; borrowed from Latin complicātus, perfect passive participle of complicō (“to fold together, fold up”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (“with, together with, in the company of, in connection with, along with, together, and”) + plicō (“to fold, wind, coil”); see plaid, and compare complex. See also Middle English complicate (“involved”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.