conundrum

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a confusing and difficult problem or riddle

   Balancing growth with sustainability remains a real conundrum.

Simplified etymology

The origin of conundrum is unknown. The word appeared in English in the late 16th century and was used by Thomas Nashe in 1596 as an abusive term for a crank or pedant. It later referred to a whim and a pun, and its current sense “riddle or puzzle” dates from the late 17th century.

Of uncertain origin; first recorded around 1600 as Oxford university slang, possibly a mock-Latin coinage. No reliable etymology has been established.

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