The story
- Latin · derived fromcōnfundō“to mingle, mix together”
- Old French · derived fromconfondre
- Anglo-Norman · derived fromcunfundre
- Middle English · inherited fromconfounden“destroy, ruin, perplex”
- English todayconfound
From Middle English confounden (“destroy, ruin, perplex”), from Anglo-Norman cunfundre and Old French confondre, from Latin cōnfundō (“to mingle, mix together”). Related to found (“to melt (metals in a foundry)”) (but not to found (“to start”), nor to find) and to fusion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.