riddle

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• /ˈɹɪdəl/
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• [ˈɹwɪdəl] ~ [ˈɹwɪdl̩]
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• /ˈɹɪɾəl/ US, Canada, t-flapping
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• [ˈɹwɪɾəl] ~ [ˈɹwɪɾl̩] US, Canada, t-flapping
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• rhymes with -ɪdəl
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• CMU ARPABET: R IH1 D AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Named after Ryedale in Yorkshire, as well as a spelling variant of Riddell.

From Middle English redel, redels, from Old English rǣdels, rǣdelse (“counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādislī (“counsel, conjecture”). Analyzable as rede (“advice”) + -le. Akin to Old English rǣdan (“to read, advise, interpret”). Cognate with Dutch raadsel, German Rätsel.

From Middle English riddil, ridelle (“sieve”), from Old English hriddel (“sieve”), alteration of earlier hridder, hrīder, from Proto-West Germanic *hrīdrā, from Proto-Germanic *hrīdrą, *hrīdrǭ (“sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrid- (“to shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Akin to German Reiter (“sieve”), Old Norse hreinn (“pure, clean”), Old High German hreini (“pure, clean”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean, pure”). More at rinse.

From Middle English riddel, ridel, redel, rudel, from Old French ridel ("a plaited stuff; curtain"; > Medieval Latin ridellus), from rider (“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan (“to turn; wrap; twist; wrinkle”). More at writhe. Doublet of rideau.

From Middle English ridlen, from the noun (see above).

196 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: raaisel — verbal puzzle
• Ahtna: cʼedzaʼ — verbal puzzle
• Albanian: gjëegjëzë — verbal puzzle
• Albanian: gjëagjëzë — verbal puzzle
• Albanian: sitë — verbal puzzle
• Arabic: لُغْز (luḡz) — verbal puzzle
• Arabic: أُحْجِيَّة (ʔuḥjiyya) — verbal puzzle
• Arabic: مُعْضِلَة (muʕḍila) — verbal puzzle
• Arabic: فزّورة (fɑzzūrɑ) — verbal puzzle
• Armenian: հանելուկ (haneluk) — verbal puzzle
• Assamese: সাঁথৰ (xãthor) — verbal puzzle
• Azerbaijani: tapmaca — verbal puzzle
• Azerbaijani: müəmma — verbal puzzle
• Bashkir: йомаҡ (yomaq) — verbal puzzle
• Belarusian: зага́дка (zahádka) — verbal puzzle
• Bhojpuri: पहेली (pahēlī) — verbal puzzle
• Bulgarian: га́танка (gátanka) — verbal puzzle
• Bulgarian: зага́дка (zagádka) — verbal puzzle
• Burmese: စကားထာ (ca.ka:hta) — verbal puzzle
• Catalan: endevinalla — verbal puzzle
• Chinese Mandarin: 謎語 /谜语 (míyǔ) — verbal puzzle
• Chinese Mandarin: 謎題 /谜题 (mítí) — verbal puzzle
• Czech: hádanka — verbal puzzle
• Danish: gåde — verbal puzzle
• Dutch: raadsel — verbal puzzle
• Esperanto: enigmo — verbal puzzle
• Estonian: mõistatus — verbal puzzle
• Faroese: gáta — verbal puzzle
• Finnish: arvoitus — verbal puzzle
• French: devinaille — verbal puzzle
• French: devinette — verbal puzzle
• French: énigme — verbal puzzle
• Galician: adiviñanza — verbal puzzle
• Galician: cousiliña — verbal puzzle
• Galician: adiviña — verbal puzzle
• Georgian: გამოცანა (gamocana) — verbal puzzle
• German: Rätsel — verbal puzzle
• German: Scherzfrage — verbal puzzle
• Greek: αίνιγμα (aínigma) — verbal puzzle
• Greek: γρίφος (grífos) — verbal puzzle
• Ancient Greek: αἴνιγμα (aínigma) — verbal puzzle
• Ancient Greek: γρῖφος (grîphos) — verbal puzzle
• Hebrew: חִידָה (ḥidá) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: पहेली (pahelī) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: बुझोवल (bujhoval) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: समस्या (samasyā) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: रहस्य (rahasya) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: राज़ (rāz) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: राज (rāj) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: भेद (bhed) — verbal puzzle
• Hindi: प्रहेलिका (prahelikā) — verbal puzzle
• Hungarian: fejtörő — verbal puzzle
• Hungarian: feladvány — verbal puzzle
• Hungarian: rejtély — verbal puzzle
• Hungarian: rejtvény — verbal puzzle
• Hungarian: talány — verbal puzzle
• Icelandic: gáta — verbal puzzle
• Indonesian: teka-teki — verbal puzzle
• Ingrian: arvoitos — verbal puzzle
• Irish: tomhas — verbal puzzle
• Italian: enigma — verbal puzzle
• Italian: indovinello — verbal puzzle
• Ivatan: kabbuni — verbal puzzle
• Japanese: 判じ物 (hanjimono) — verbal puzzle
• Japanese: 謎 (nazo) — verbal puzzle
• Japanese: 謎々 — verbal puzzle
• Japanese: なぞなぞ (nazonazo) — verbal puzzle
• Japanese: パズル (pazuru) — verbal puzzle
• Kapampangan: bugtung — verbal puzzle
• Kazakh: жұмбақ (jūmbaq) — verbal puzzle
• Korean: 수수께끼 (susukkekki) — verbal puzzle
• Kyrgyz: табышмак (tabışmak) — verbal puzzle
• Ladino: endevinas — verbal puzzle
• Latin: aenigma — verbal puzzle
• Latvian: mīkla — verbal puzzle
• Lithuanian: mįslė — verbal puzzle
• Macedonian: га́танка (gátanka) — verbal puzzle
• Macedonian: загатка (zagatka) — verbal puzzle
• Malay: teka-teki — verbal puzzle
• Māori: panga — verbal puzzle
• Māori: pere — verbal puzzle
• Middle English: redels — verbal puzzle
• Middle English: redel — verbal puzzle
• Mirandese: adebina — verbal puzzle
• Norwegian: gåte — verbal puzzle
• Occitan: devinalha — verbal puzzle
• Occitan: enigma — verbal puzzle
• Occitan: charrada — verbal puzzle
• Pashto: معما (ma'mã) — verbal puzzle
• Persian: چیستان (čistân) — verbal puzzle
• Persian: معما (mo'ammâ) — verbal puzzle
• Polish: rebus — verbal puzzle
• Polish: zagadka — verbal puzzle
• Portuguese: adivinha — verbal puzzle
• Portuguese: charada — verbal puzzle
• Portuguese: enigma — verbal puzzle
• Romanian: ghicitoare — verbal puzzle
• Romanian: cimilitură — verbal puzzle
• Russian: зага́дка (zagádka) — verbal puzzle
• Russian: ре́бус (rébus) — verbal puzzle
• Scottish Gaelic: dubh-fhacal — verbal puzzle
• Serbo-Croatian: енигма — verbal puzzle
• Serbo-Croatian: за̏гоне̄тка — verbal puzzle
• Serbo-Croatian: enigma — verbal puzzle
• Serbo-Croatian: zȁgonētka — verbal puzzle
• Sicilian: nimma — verbal puzzle
• Sicilian: nnivinagghia — verbal puzzle
• Slovak: hádanka — verbal puzzle
• Slovene: uganka — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: acertijo — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: adivinanza — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: cosicosa — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: enigma — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: quisicosa — verbal puzzle
• Spanish: quesiqués — verbal puzzle
• Sundanese: tatarucingan — verbal puzzle
• Sundanese: turucing — verbal puzzle
• Sundanese: tuturucingan — verbal puzzle
• Swahili: fumbo — verbal puzzle
• Swedish: gåta — verbal puzzle
• Tagalog: bugtong — verbal puzzle
• Tajik: чистон (čiston) — verbal puzzle
• Tajik: муаммо (muammo) — verbal puzzle
• Thai: ปริศนา (bprìt-sà-nǎa) — verbal puzzle
• Turkish: bulmaca — verbal puzzle
• Turkish: esrar — verbal puzzle
• Turkish: bilmece — verbal puzzle
• Ukrainian: за́гадка (záhadka) — verbal puzzle
• Urdu: پہیلی (pahelī) — verbal puzzle
• Urdu: معما (mu'ammā) — verbal puzzle
• Uyghur: تېپىشماق (tëpishmaq) — verbal puzzle
• Uzbek: topishmoq — verbal puzzle
• Vietnamese: câu đố — verbal puzzle
• Walloon: advina — verbal puzzle
• Welsh: pos — verbal puzzle
• Yakan: untukan — verbal puzzle
• Bulgarian: отгатвам (otgatvam) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Bulgarian: разгадавам (razgadavam) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Dutch: raden — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Esperanto: solvi — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Esperanto: respondi — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Esperanto: ekspliki — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Finnish: arvata — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Galician: resolver — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• German: enträtseln — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Greek: λύνω (lýno) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Greek: ξεδιαλύνω (xedialýno) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Greek: εξηγώ (exigó) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Italian: risolvere — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Italian: spiegare — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Kapampangan: ibugtungan — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Russian: разга́дывать (razgádyvatʹ) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Russian: разгада́ть (razgadátʹ) — to solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question
• Bulgarian: пресявам (presjavam) — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Bulgarian: пресея (preseja) — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Czech: prosít — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Dutch: zeven — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Esperanto: kribri — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Finnish: siivilöidä — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• French: cribler — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Greek: κοσκινίζω (koskinízo) — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Irish: rill — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Irish: criathraigh — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Italian: setacciare — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Polish: przesiać — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Russian: просеивать (proseivatʹ) — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Spanish: cribar — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Spanish: harnear — to put something through a riddle or sieve
• Bulgarian: надупчвам (nadupčvam) — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Bulgarian: правя на решето (pravja na rešeto) — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Czech: proděravět — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Dutch: doorzeven — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Esperanto: multetrui — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Finnish: rei’ittää — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Finnish: puhkoa — to fill with holes like a riddle
• French: cribler — to fill with holes like a riddle
• German: durchlöchern — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Greek: τρυπώ (trypó) — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Irish: criathraigh — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Italian: crivellare — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Italian: forare — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Portuguese: crivar — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Russian: изрешечивать (izrešečivatʹ) — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Spanish: agujerear — to fill with holes like a riddle
• Bulgarian: посявам (posjavam) — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Bulgarian: посея (poseja) — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Dutch: doordringen — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Dutch: doorspekt — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Esperanto: kribriĝi — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Finnish: vilistä — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• French: cribler — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Irish: criathraigh — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Italian: cospargere — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Italian: riempire — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Russian: заполонять (zapolonjatʹ) — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade
• Spanish: plagar — to fill or spread throughout; to pervade