The state of being confused or perplexed; a feeling when you don't understand something or are completely puzzled.
From 'baffle' (to confuse) + '-ment' (suffix forming nouns of action or state). 'Baffle' itself may derive from Scottish 'bauchle' (to treat with contempt) or possibly from French 'bafouer,' both meaning to defeat or thwart.
Medieval knights who disgraced themselves were sometimes 'baffled'—hung upside down in armor while their heraldry was torn up—so 'baffle' originally meant public humiliation, not confusion!
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