imbroglio

The story

1. French · derived fromembrouiller“to embroil, muddle”
2. Italian · borrowed fromimbroglio“tangle, entanglement, muddle”
3. English todayimbroglio

Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (prefix forming verbs denoting derivation) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“to embroil, muddle”) (em- (“em-”), a form of en- (“en-”, prefix meaning ‘caused’) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”)). Doublet of embroil.

Words from the same roots