- bewilder
- 1684, from be- "thoroughly" + archaic wilder "lead astray, lure into the wilds," probably a back-formation of wilderness. An earlier word with the same sense was bewhape (c.1320). Pp. adj. bewildering is recorded from 1792. Bewilderment "condition of being bewildered" is from 1820; meaning "thing or situation which bewilders" is from 1844.