Complexity
Etymology
From Latin "complexus" (an embrace, a woven-together whole), the past participle of "complecti" (to entwine), from "com-" (together) and "plectere" (to weave, plait). The image is of threads interlaced — complexity is intertwining, not just abundance of parts.
noun · /kum-PLEK-sih-tee/
The condition of having many interconnected parts whose interactions produce behavior hard to predict.
What it names
A property of systems — richness of interaction — that is routinely confused with the simpler idea of being merely complicated.
Example
The airline’s scheduling had a complexity no single manager could hold in mind: one delay rippled through a hundred connections.
Related idea
A complicated thing has many parts but is knowable if you study each — a watch; a complex thing behaves unpredictably because its parts interact and adapt — an economy. Complexity is entanglement, not mere elaborateness.
See also