The basis of this word is the adjective "intricate." This comes from the Latin tricare, to make difficult, and basically means complex, involved or entangled (rather like tangled knitting wool; in fact I think the French word for knit, "tricoter," comes from the same root, which gives you a good mental image of what "intricate" means.
"Intricacy" is the noun form and refers to something complicated, entangled etc. However, since by definition a single thing is less complicated than a lot of things together, it's much more often used in the plural form - intricacies.
A typical sentence might be:" I enjoyed the book, but the intricacies of the plot were very hard to follow." Or you could say: "The judge's decision seemed very surprising, but you probably needed to understand all the intricacies of the long court case, in order to understand it."
You could also refer to the "intricacies" ie complexities," of the human mind.
"Intricacy" is the noun form and refers to something complicated, entangled etc. However, since by definition a single thing is less complicated than a lot of things together, it's much more often used in the plural form - intricacies.
A typical sentence might be:" I enjoyed the book, but the intricacies of the plot were very hard to follow." Or you could say: "The judge's decision seemed very surprising, but you probably needed to understand all the intricacies of the long court case, in order to understand it."
You could also refer to the "intricacies" ie complexities," of the human mind.
