different between knotty vs labyrinthine

English

Etymology

From Middle English knotty, knotti, equivalent to knot +? -y. Compare Dutch knoestig (“knotty”), German knotig (“knotty”), Swedish knutig, knotig (“knotty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?ti/
• Homophone: naughty (in accents with the cot-caught merger)
• Rhymes: -?ti

Adjective

knotty (comparative knottier or more knotty, superlative knottiest or most knotty)

1. Full of knots.
2. Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult.

   Synonyms: intricate, thorny

Derived terms

• Knotty Ash

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• knotti, cnotti

Etymology

From knotte +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kn?ti?/

Adjective

knotty

1. knotted, tied, linked
2. knotty, tangled, twisted
3. knobby, bumpy, clumped
4. knoblike, protruding

Descendants

• English: knotty
• Scots: knottie

References

• “knott?, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

English

Etymology

From labyrinth +? -ine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læb.????n.??n/, /læb.????n.?in/, /læb.????n.?a?n/
• ,

Adjective

labyrinthine (comparative more labyrinthine, superlative most labyrinthine)

1. Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
   • 1996, Steen L. Jensen, H. Gregerson. M. H. Shokouh-Amin, F. G. Moody, (eds.), Essentials of Experimental Surgery: Gastroenterology, page 27/4

     In the pyloric canal, muscular ridges are more fixed than elsewhere and produce quite a labyrinthine surface.

   • 2011, Lincoln Child, Deep Storm, page 185

     Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.

2. (anatomy) Relating to the labyrinth of the ear
3. (figuratively) Convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.
   • 2000, Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, page 51

     Any attempt to answer that question would carry us into the labyrinthine corridors of Jefferson's famously elusive mind.

   • 2005, Michael W. Riley, "Plato's Cratylus: Argument, form, and structure", page 103

     By coupling "essence" with "name" within a series of contraposed pairs of names, Socrates indicates the point to which he thinks his labyrinthine argument has led so far in the Cratylus.

Synonyms

• (resembling a labyrinth): labyrinthal, labyrinthial, labyrinthian, labyrinthic, labyrinthical, labyrinthiform
• (twisting, convoluted): baffling, confusing, convoluted

Related terms

Translations