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If something mystifies you, it is so strange or mixed up that you cannot understand it, even after you have tried. It is stronger than a small doubt. A magic trick can mystify a room; a friend's sudden silence can mystify you; a test result that does not match the work can mystify a teacher. The verb is ordinary, not stiff. Something mystifies you, or a person mystifies someone — the confusing thing is usually the subject. Though actually, it is not a religious word, even though it sits next to mystic in the family. It does not mean to make someone into a mystic. The French source was closer to wrapping a thing in fake mystery so as to trick someone; in English today you almost always just mean leave someone unable to explain.
使困惑、讓人完全搞不懂
組成From French mystifier: Greek mustikós (secret, mystic) + Latin -ficare (to make). So, originally, to make mysterious — now, to leave someone unable to explain.
同家族的字
- mysticsame Greek secret / mystic root
- mysterysame family; a puzzle, not this verb
- mysticismthe religious practice, not this everyday verb
- mystifyingthe -ing adjective from this verb
- mystiqueFrench cousin; the special aura, not the confusing
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
mystifyverb/ˈmɪstɪfaɪ/
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To thoroughly confuse, befuddle, or bewilder.
- Solar eclipses continued to mystify ancient humans for thousands of years.
- I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。