Word of the Day - 11/20/25
abstruse
/æb'strus/(adj.): difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
The physicist's lecture on quantum entanglement was so abstruse that most of the undergraduate students struggled to follow.
Word Origin
The word 'abstruse' originates from the Latin 'abstrūsus', which is the past participle of 'abstrūdere'. 'Abstrūdere' means 'to conceal' or 'to hide'. This Latin verb is composed of the prefix 'ab-' (meaning 'away from') and 'trūdere' (meaning 'to thrust' or 'to push'). Therefore, 'abstruse' literally means 'thrust away' or 'hidden away', referring to something that is difficult to understand because it is 'pushed away' or concealed from easy comprehension.
Words with similar origins, specifically sharing the Latin root 'trūdere' ('to thrust'), include 'intrude' (from 'in-' + 'trūdere', to thrust into), 'protrude' (from 'pro-' + 'trūdere', to thrust forward), 'extrude' (from 'ex-' + 'trūdere', to thrust out), and 'obtrude' (from 'ob-' + 'trūdere', to thrust against or in the way).