Konfunderade

Konfunderade is a Swedish word that functions both as a verb form and as an adjective. As a verb, konfunderade is the preterite (past tense) form of the verb konfunder(a), meaning to confuse or perplex someone. For example: Han konfunderade sina kollegor med svaret. As an adjective, konfunderad describes someone who is perplexed, while konfunderade can serve as the plural form of the same adjective to describe multiple people or things, as in De konfunderade frågorna krävde svar.

Etymology and usage notes emphasize that konfunder(a) originates from the Latin confundere, meaning to mix together, confound, or confuse. The Swedish form likely entered the language via early modern European languages, such as German or French, as part of a broader family of borrowings related to confusion and perplexity. In contemporary Swedish, konfunderade appears most often in formal, journalistic, or literary contexts. It can describe cognitive puzzlement (konfunderad) or the act of causing confusion (konfunderade someone). The word tends to have a neutral to slightly formal tone and is less common in casual speech.

See also: synonyms and related terms include förvirra (to confuse), förvånas (to astonish), or förundra (to astonish in a more positive sense). Antonyms include klargöra (to clarify) and förstå (to understand). The form is unambiguous when the context makes clear whether it is used as a verb in past tense or as an adjective in plural.