Topic: Misleading complexity

Im trying to find out if there is a word that has the definition of;

"something that on its surface appears at least to the untrained eye very basic or simple but is not only very complex but continually more complex as you further look into it."

or something along those lines.

Ambiguous, fallacious or polysemy are the closest things I can think of, but if it's something this precise than using one word won't express that.

The goal of language is to get your message across, so even if a word sort of fits with what you mean if the person you're saying it to doesn't get the full meaning then it's simply not effective.

I feel that they are very close but not specific enough. I wonder what we do when there is not a word for a definition. How do we go about making that word.

I googled 'more than meets the eye' and the best I got was 2 words - hidden significance.

How did Transformers not come up when you googled more than meets the eye?

It might be difficult to find a single word to describe something whose superficial simplicity belies its hidden depths.

Most words I can find that have some nuance of being only fully understood by a select few also carry the connotation of appearing obscure and imprenetrable to outsiders. 'Esoteric', 'arcane' and 'recondite' all suffer from this problem.

I'm struggling to imply 'unseemingly profound or deep' without breaking into several words. And my spellcheck doesn't seem to believe 'unseemingly' is a word in the first place. I've a feeling there are some words used in relation to religious practitioners about topics which possess many levels of understanding, but they haven't jumped out of the thesaurus so far.

What do you need the word for, out of interest?

@jump I was typing in my Autobot voice

Not sure if there's a single word. What about "deceptively deep".

Thank you all for your comments. It's been very helpful.

It seems that many areas of my life, hobbies, and topics of interest that i am involved in fit this description and people often ask about its complexity or state how basic it seems. examples; music, im into a genre of music called uk hardcore and on its surface it seems very samey and with not much depth but its infinitely complex. My main genre of gaming is vertical shmups or bullet hells, again people often see it and think they are all just the same or dont think there is much to it. And im currently converting from bodybuilding to cycling and have hired a cycling coach, it seems like such a simple thing that you just pedal but there is so much to it than that. It feels like its even more complex than bodybuilding.

For some reason pretentious comes to mind as a suitable word of simple but greater depth being implied but I don't think you're after that tho.

@jump Did you even check the definition?

Yeah, it's something people try to put a deeper meaning into it. Depending on the context it could fit the description of yeah it looks simple but it's really deep

I would simply say, without overelaborating, that these things are 'deceptively simple', as in - you know - they look simple but they possess a greater depth that it's invisible to the naked eye.
With music, I often say that an album or a genre is "a chinese box", which in my mind should be an international metaphor for something that from the outside looks one-dimensional and simple but in reality is complexly built, layer upon layer of different elements, and the more you dig in, the more there is to uncover. Chinese box being of course a nest of boxes eh.

@sarethums Been thinking about this for several days now, ever since I noticed your question, and the word that has finally come to mind is multi-layered. Doesn't quite tick all the boxes of your description, but it certainly is a pretty good synonym for "continually more complex as you further look into it".

Hope that helps you on your way to finding the definition you're looking for.

Deceptively deep.

Hm, this is bugging me a bit.
I'm thinking about how such a word could be used in conversation. For example:
"That seems basic."
"It's probably more complex than you think. Look..."
"Oh wow, you're right. That's actually quite [...]."

There's a word on the tip of my tongue but I can't seem to spit it out. Maybe we're all overthinking it? Regarding that conversation, couldn't words like "profound" (demanding deep study or thought), "deceptive" (an appearance or impression different from the true one), or even the bog-standard "deep" make do? As a standalone word though (to describe the definition completely, without context), I am stumped.

Also, I find it interesting that your reason for posting this thread could be described by the antonym of the word you seek. For example, I was wondering what prompted your question, expecting the answer to be quite deep or profound (possibly relating to the art of language, its origins, etc) - only to discover your reason is simpler than I anticipated. Now we need a word to describe that, too... the antonym to your original question (yay, another spanner in the works).

Thanks for exercising my brain, but - as mentioned - maybe we're overthinking it.

@ThanosReXXX

This has got me thinking that the answer to this entire thread is to be found, like many things, in the verses of Shrek:

Thus, the word we having been seeking is after all: oniony.

No wait, that's awful.

More seriously, if you're feeling a touch pretentious you could get away with using 'Zen' as an adjective for something 'easy to learn but hard to master'. Merriam-Webster gives the following expert, which somewhat echoes the example of peddling you were referring to:

"Paddling, itself, is a Zen art: Anyone can do it, yet you can spend a lifetime perfecting it." - Jim Albrecht

The fact that the circle itself possesses a particular importance within Zen lends the pedalling example a bit more significance.

However, the analogy falls down spectacularly hard with the other two examples; namely, UK Hardcore and Bullet Hell Shooters. In their respective categories, it would be difficult to find two examples more distant from the quiet tranquility associated with Zen Buddhism. They are walls of aural and visual noise, not rock gardens and tatami mats.

Sticking with the pretentious and semi-spiritual theme however, I suppose you could describe them as 'transcendental' in their own way; finding structure in chaos as you weave through waves of bullets along paths that only exist for a split second, or feeling a sense of balance and weightlessness in the rush delivered by Hardcore's beat-laden assault on the senses.

If you wanted to hit peak pretentiousness, you could describe the activities as 'transcendental insanity'. No one would talk to you for the rest of the day, but at least you'd feel cool for a bit.

@Maxz Well, it certainly brought tears to my eyes...

I think that just deceptive/deceiving could be enough. I think I have never read this word except when people wanted to describe this kind of situation and now this is the first thing this word makes me think about when I read it.