befuddled
adjective

- confused

Cambridge Dictionary

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befuddle
verb

- to confuse; perplex

- to stupefy with or as if with alcoholic drink

American Heritage Dictionary

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ORIGIN

Befuddle is a wonderful-sounding word. Like its cousins “bewilder, bedevil, and bemuse", it’s formed by adding the prefix “be” to a verb.

Befuddled stems from the 17th century “fuddle”, which meant to “confuse with drink” and which likely derived from the Low German fuddeln, meaning to work in a slovenly manner (as if drunk).

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SYNONYMS

(all) at sea, at sixes and sevens, baffled, bedazzled, bewildered, bedeviled, bemused, blurry, confused, dazed, discombobulated, feather-headed, foggy, flummoxed, glassy-eyed, goggle-eyed, muddleheaded, muzzy, nonplussed, not knowing if you are coming or going, not with it, perplexed, puzzled, stumped, thrown off balance, woolly-headed

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Driving on the left-hand side of the road in the UK can be quite BEFUDDLING.”

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Paul Smith