complexus

English

Etymology

Latin complexus (“embrace”).

Noun

complexus (plural complexuses)

1. (dated) A complex; an aggregate of parts; a complication.
   • 1827, The Oriental Herald, volume 14, page 85:

     Whenever any of the great complexuses of the nerves, by intestine jars, have entangled themselves, at my approach they range into regular order, and give mutual assistance to each other in a friendly embracing intercourse […]

2. (anatomy) A large muscle of the back, passing from the spine to the head.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “complexus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Etymology 1

Form of complector (“I entwine, encircle, compass, infold”), compound of com- (“together”) and plecto (“I weave, braid”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /komˈplek.sus/, [kɔmˈpɫ̪ɛks̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /komˈplek.sus/, [komˈplɛksus]

Participle

complexus (feminine complexa, neuter complexum); first/second-declension participle

1. embraced
2. surrounded
3. involved

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	complexus	complexa	complexum		complexī	complexae	complexa
genitive	complexī	complexae	complexī		complexōrum	complexārum	complexōrum
dative	complexō	complexae	complexō		complexīs
accusative	complexum	complexam	complexum		complexōs	complexās	complexa
ablative	complexō	complexā	complexō		complexīs
vocative	complexe	complexa	complexum		complexī	complexae	complexa

Etymology 2

From complector +‎ -tus (action noun suffix).

Noun

complexus m (genitive complexūs); fourth declension

1. an embrace, (euphemistic) a sexual act
2. tie, bond
3. (Late Latin) the totality
4. (Late Latin) society as a whole
5. (Late Latin) understanding

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	complexus	complexūs
genitive	complexūs	complexuum
dative	complexuī	complexibus
accusative	complexum	complexūs
ablative	complexū	complexibus
vocative	complexus	complexūs

References

• “complexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “complexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the book contains something... (not continet aliquid): libro scriptor complexus est aliquid
    
• complexus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Souter, Alexander (1949) “complexus”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.‎^[2], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 65
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “complexus”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[3], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC