Fuddle
/ˈfʌd.əl/noun
To make someone drunk or confused; to muddle or befuddle.
Did you know?By the 17th century, English had paired it with the intensifying prefix in the now-familiar form "befuddle," turning ordinary confusion into a word that sounds almost like a spell.
Etymological Timeline
Late 16th Century
English
fudle / fuddle
“To make drunk; to confuse or stupify”
16th Century
English
fud
“A state of intoxication or foolishness; also a dialectal base form linked to confusion”
Middle English
English
fodlen / foudlen
“To confound or make drunk (attested in later dialectal and historical forms)”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*fud-
“A likely imitative or expressive base associated with confusion or foolishness”
Modern English
English
fuddle
“To confuse, befog, or intoxicate”