complexe (French)

Where does "complexe" come from?

The French adjective 'complexe' is a learned borrowing from Latin 'complexus'[1]. The Latin form traces back to the verb 'complector', which combined 'con-' and 'plectō'[2][3]. The root 'plectō' stems from Proto-Italic '*plektō', meaning to fold or weave, and ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*pleḱ-' and extended from '*pel-' meaning to fold or wrap[4][6].

Open questions

• The Proto-Indo-European form '*pleḱ-' and its extension from '*pel-' are linguistic reconstructions not directly attested in writing. [4] [6]

Full etymology tree

• complexe (French), 'complex, not simple'
  • learned borrowing complexus (Latin), 'an embrace, (euphemistic) a sexual act'
    • derived complector (Latin), 'to embrace or hug'
      • compound con- (Latin), 'Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects'
      • compound plecto (Latin), 'to plait, weave, braid'
        • inherited *plektō (Proto-Italic)
          • inherited *pleḱ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to fold, plait, weave'
            • derived *pel- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cover, to wrap'
    • suffix -tus (Latin), 'Forms action nouns from verbs.'

Ancestors

• complexus (Latin)

Sources

1. complexe (French) - Wiktionary
2. complexus (Latin) - Wiktionary
3. complector (Latin) - Wiktionary
4. plecto (Latin) - Wiktionary
5. πλέκω (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
6. pleḱ- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
7. plékō (Proto-Hellenic) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris