The Spanish verb 'embrollar', meaning 'to confuse or entangle', comes from the French verb 'embrouiller' with the same meaning. The French word is a compound formed from the prefix 'em-' (meaning 'in, into') and the verb 'brouiller' (meaning 'to mix up or confuse'). When this word was borrowed into Spanish, the French '-ouiller' ending was adapted to the more Spanish-like '-ollar' ending, while maintaining the same meaning of creating confusion or entanglement.

A common related Spanish word is 'embrollo', which is the noun form meaning 'mess, muddle, or confusion'. You might also encounter 'embrollado' (the past participle used as an adjective) meaning 'confused' or 'tangled'. These words form a family that all relate to the concept of confusion or entanglement.

While English doesn't have any direct cognates of 'embrollar', we can find some distant relatives through French. The English word 'broil' (as in a heated argument or confusion) shares a connection with the French 'brouiller', though 'broil' in the cooking sense has a different origin. The word 'imbroglio', meaning 'a complicated or confusing situation', entered English through Italian but is related to the same French roots as 'embrollar'.