riddled

The modern adjective 'riddled' originates from the Old English noun for a sieve, 'hriddel'. The semantic leap from a sieve—a tool full of holes—to the state of being perforated is direct and logical. By the late 16th century, the verb 'to riddle' emerged, meaning to pierce with many holes like a sieve, often in a violent context such as gunfire. From this concrete meaning, a powerful figurative sense evolved in the 19th century: to be 'riddled with' something, such as errors or disease, is to be so thoroughly permeated by it that the subject is metaphorically full of holes, weakened and compromised in its integrity.

The word 'riddled' is the past participle form of the verb 'riddle'. The base verb 'riddle' is a simplex word of Germanic origin, derived from Old English 'hriddel' or 'hridder', meaning a coarse sieve. Its functional role is as a lexical root; the '-ed' suffix marks it as a participial adjective.