Etymology

tortuous

tor·tu·ous
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Today it means: Twisted; having many turns; convoluted. Full definition →

Middle English tortuous ← Old French tortuos ← Latin tortuōsus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromtortuōsus
  2. Old French · derived fromtortuos
  3. Middle English · inherited fromtortuous
  4. English todaytortuous

From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.