'Sophisticated' once meant 'corrupted by sophistry' — it flipped to 'worldly and refined' only in the 1900s.
Having or showing worldly experience and refined taste; complex and developed in design or function.
From Medieval Latin 'sophisticātus,' past participle of 'sophisticāre' (to adulterate, to tamper with, to corrupt with sophistry), from Latin 'sophisticus,' from Greek 'sophistēs' (a wise man, later a specious reasoner). For centuries, 'sophisticated' was purely negative — it meant 'corrupted, adulterated, deprived of natural simplicity.' Sophisticated wine was wine mixed with adulterants. A sophisticated person was one ruined by excessive worldly
The word 'sophomore' — a second-year student — combines Greek 'sophos' (wise) with 'mōros' (foolish), literally meaning 'wise fool.' It shares the 'sophos' root with 'sophisticated,' making a sophomore etymologically a 'wise-foolish' person and a sophisticated person etymologically a 'corrupted-by-wisdom' person. Both words encode the ancient Greek suspicion that too much cleverness