tangle
n. countablen. a messy group of things like hair, wires, or string that are twisted together and hard to separate.
n. a confused or complicated mass of intertwined strands; a state of disorder or complexity.
My headphones are in a messy tangle.
The kitten played with the yarn until it was a hopeless tangle of knots.
The investigation revealed a dense tangle of financial records that took the forensic accountants months to untangle and understand.
From Middle English tanglen, probably of North Germanic origin, compare Swedish taggla (“to disorder”), Old Norse þǫngull, þang (“tangle; seaweed”), see Etymology 2 below.
Of North Germanic origin, such as Danish tang or Swedish tång, from Old Norse þongull, þang. See also Norwegian tongul, Faroese tongul, Icelandic þöngull.
Often used with the preposition 'of' to describe the material involved.