A labyrinth is a complex maze of winding paths designed to confuse anyone trying to find their way through it. Picture walking into a garden where the hedges twist and turn in every direction, with dozens of dead ends and false paths leading you in circles. That's a labyrinth.

The most famous labyrinth appears in Greek mythology: King Minos of Crete built an enormous underground maze to imprison the Minotaur, a dangerous creature that was half man and half bull. The hero Theseus had to navigate this labyrinth to defeat the monster, using a ball of thread to mark his path so he could find his way back out.

Real labyrinths exist too. Some medieval churches built labyrinths into their floors as walking meditation paths. Hampton Court Palace near London has a famous hedge maze that visitors still get lost in today. Modern corn mazes are temporary labyrinths that farmers cut into their fields each fall.

The word also describes anything confusingly complicated. You might call a building with countless twisting hallways a labyrinth of corridors, or describe tax laws as labyrinthine when they're so complex that even experts struggle to understand them. When something feels impossible to navigate or figure out, comparing it to a labyrinth captures that sense of being tangled up in complexity.