conundrum: [16] Conundrum originally appeared in all manner of weird and wonderful guises – conimbrum, conuncrum, quonundrum, connunder, etc – before settling down to conundrum in the late 18th century. It bears all the marks of one of the rather heavy-handed quasi-Latin joke words beloved of scholars in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a mid-17thcentury commentator attributed it to Oxford university. At first it meant ‘whim’ and then ‘pun’; the current sense ‘puzzling problem’ did not develop until the end of the 18th century.
conundrum (n.)
1590s, Oxford University slang for "pedant," also "whim," etc., later (1790) "riddle, puzzle." Also spelled quonundrum. The sort of ponderous pseudo-Latin word that was once the height of humor in learned circles.
双语例句
1. Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.
科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。
来自辞典例句
2. Interaction designers often face the conundrum of whether to make their products user - customizable.
交互设计者经常面临这样的难题,即是否让他们的产品具有用户定制功能.
来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
3. What I said was that there was some interest at Conundrum.
我说的是迷题出版社的人表示有兴趣.
来自电影对白
4. Many people -- too many to count -- share your career conundrum.
许多人 -- 多的数不过来 - 有着和你一样的职业难题.
来自互联网
5. Let me give you some history about a conundrum.