COMPLECTED

[com.plect.ed] adj [irreg. fr. complexion] (1806): having a specified facial complexion "a tall, thin man, fairly dark ~ --E. J. Kahn" usage Not an error, nor a dialectal term, nor nonstandard--all of which it has been labeled--complected still manages to raise hackles. It is an Americanism, apparently nonexistent in British English. Its currency in American English is attested as early as 1806 (by Meriwether Lewis) and it appears in the works of such notable American writers as Mark Twain, O. Henry, James Whitcomb Riley, and William Faulkner. Complexioned, recommended by handbooks, has less use than complected. Literary use, old and new, slightly favors complected.