intellect

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin intellēctus (“understanding, intellect”), from Latin intellegō (“understand; reason”), from inter (“between, among”) + legō (“read”), with connotation of bind.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəlɛkt/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəˌlɛkt/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəlekt/

Noun

intellect (countable and uncountable, plural intellects)

1. (uncountable) The faculty of thinking, judging, abstract reasoning, and conceptual understanding; the cognitive faculty.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intelligence

   Intellect is one of man's greatest powers.

2. (uncountable) The capacity of that faculty (in a particular person).

   They were chosen because of their outstanding intellect.

   • 1983, “Intelligence”, in Shiver, performed by Virna Lindt:

     Arms of stripes and shirts of checks / You had a very nice intellect

3. A person who has that faculty to a great degree.

   Synonym: intellectual

   Some of the world's leading intellects were meeting there.

Derived terms

• artilect
• intellected
• superintellect

Related terms

• intellectual
• intellectualism
• intellectualize
• intelligence
• intelligent
• intelligentsia
• intelligible

Translations

the faculty of knowing and reasoning; understanding

Albanian: intelekt (sq) m Arabic: عَقْل (ar) m (ʕaql), فِطْنَة f (fiṭna), ذِهْن m (ḏihn), ذَكَاء (ar) m (ḏakāʔ) Armenian: բանականություն (hy) (banakanutʻyun), խելք (hy) (xelkʻ) Avar: гӏакълу (ʻaqxʼlu) Azerbaijani: ağıl (az), intellekt, zehin, zəka (az) Bashkir: аҡыл (aqıl) Belarusian: інтэле́кт m (inteljékt), ро́зум m (rózum), рассу́дак m (rassúdak), глузд m (hluzd) Bengali: বুদ্ধি (bn) (buddhi), বুদ্ধিবৃত্তি (bn) (buddhibritti), আক্কল (bn) (akkol) Bulgarian: интеле́кт (bg) m (intelékt), разсъ́дък (bg) m (razsǎ́dǎk), ум (bg) m (um), ра́зум (bg) m (rázum), акъ́л (bg) m (akǎ́l) (colloquial) Burmese: ဉာဏ (my) (nyana.), အသိဉာဏ် (my) (a.si.nyan) Catalan: intel·lecte (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 思力 (si1 lik6), 心智 (sam1 zi3), 智力 (zi3 lik6), 智能 (zi3 nang4) Mandarin: 思力 (zh) (sīlì), 心智 (zh) (xīnzhì), 智力 (zh) (zhìlì), 智能 (zh) (zhìnéng) Chuvash: ӑс (ăs) Czech: intelekt (cs) m Danish: intellekt n Dutch: intellect (nl) n Estonian: intellekt, mõistus Finnish: äly (fi) French: intellect (fr) m Galician: intelecto m Georgian: ინტელექტი (ka) (inṭelekṭi), გონება (goneba) German: Intellekt (de) m Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌹 f (fraþi) Greek: νοημοσύνη (el) f (noïmosýni), διάνοια (el) f (diánoia), νόηση (el) f (nóisi) Hebrew: תְּבוּנָה (he) f (tvuná) Hindi: बुद्धि (hi) f (buddhi), प्रज्ञा (hi) f (prajñā), अक़्ल f (aqla), ज़ेहन f (zehan) Hungarian: ész (hu), intellektus (hu), értelem (hu) Icelandic: greind f, vitsmunir m pl, intellekt n Indonesian: intelek (id), akal (id) Irish: intleacht f Italian: intelletto (it) m Japanese: 知性 (ja) (ちせい, chisei)、思考力 (ja) (しこうりょく, shikōryoku), 智力 (ja) (ちりょく, chiryoku), 知恵 (ja) (ちえ, chie), 知能 (ja) (ちのう, chinō) Kazakh: зият (ziät), интеллект (intellekt), ақыл (kk) (aqyl) Khmer: បញ្ញា (km) (paññaa), ញាណ (km) (ñiən) Korean: 지혜(智慧) (ko) (jihye), 지력(智力) (ko) (jiryeok), 지성(知性) (ko) (jiseong), 사고력(思考力) (ko) (sagoryeok), 지능(知能) (ko) (jineung) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: hiş (ku), jîrî (ku), aqil (ku), eqil (ku), zihn (ku) Kyrgyz: эс (ky) (es), акыл (ky) (akıl), интеллект (intellekt) Lao: ປັນຍາ (lo) (pan nyā), ສະໝອງ (lo) (sa mǭng) Latin: intellectus m Latvian: intelekts m Lezgi: акьул (aq̇ul) Lithuanian: intelektas (lt) m Macedonian: интеле́кт m (intelékt), разум m (razum), ум (mk) m (um), акал m (akal) (colloquial) Malay: intelek, akal (ms) Maltese: intellett m, dehen m Maori: ihomatua, hirikapo Marathi: बुद्धी (mr) f (buddhī) Mongolian: Cyrillic: оюун ухаан (ojuun uxaan), оюун (mn) (ojuun) Navajo: bíniʼ Norwegian: Bokmål: intellekt n Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: оумъ m (umŭ), разоумъ m (razumŭ) Old East Slavic: разумъ m (razumŭ), умъ m (umŭ) Ossetian: зонд (zond) Ottoman Turkish: عقل (ʼakl, ʼakıl), ذهن (zihin), ذكا (zekâ) Pashto: عقل (ps) m ('áqәl), ذهن (ps) m (zehn) Persian: Iranian Persian: عَقْل (aġl), هوشْمَنْدی (hušmandi), هوش (fa) (huš), ذِهْن (fa) (zehn), ذَکاء (fa) (zakâ') Polish: intelekt (pl) m, rozum (pl) m, rozsądek (pl) m Portuguese: intelecto (pt) m Romanian: intelect (ro) n Russian: интелле́кт (ru) m (intellékt), ра́зум (ru) m (rázum), ум (ru) m (um), рассу́док (ru) m (rassúdok) Sanskrit: मनस् (sa) n (manas), बुद्धि (sa) f (búddhi) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: интѐлект m, у̑м m, ра̏зӯм m Roman: intèlekt (sh) m, ȗm (sh) m, rȁzūm (sh) m Slovak: intelekt m, um m Slovene: intelekt m, razum m Spanish: intelecto (es) m Swedish: intellekt (sv) n Tabasaran: аькьюл (a̱q̇jul) Tajik: ақл (tg) (aql), ҳӯш (hůš), зеҳн (zehn) Tatar: акыл (tt) (aqıl) Tausug: akkal Thai: ปัญญา (th) (bpan-yaa), สมอง (th) (sà-mɔ̌ɔng), เมธา (mee-taa) Turkish: entelekt (tr), akıl (tr), zihin (tr), zekâ (tr) Turkmen: akyl (tk), intellekt Ukrainian: інтеле́кт (uk) m (intelékt), ро́зум (uk) m (rózum), розсу́док m (rozsúdok), глузд m (hluzd) Urdu: عَقْل (ur) f ('aql), ذِہْن m (zihn), ذِہَن m (zihan) Uyghur: ئەقىل (ug) (eqil), زېھىن (zëhin) Uzbek: aql (uz), intellekt (uz), zehn (uz) Vietnamese: trí tuệ (vi) (智慧 (vi)), trí năng (vi) (智能) Welsh: dealltwriaeth f Yiddish: אינטעלעקט m (intelekt)

that faculty in a particular person

Armenian: խելք (hy) (xelkʻ) Bulgarian: ум (bg) m (um), разсъ́дък (bg) m (razsǎ́dǎk) Latin: intellectus m Navajo: bíniʼ Portuguese: intelecto (pt) m Romanian: intelect (ro) n

a person who has that faculty in great degree

Bulgarian: интелектуа́лец m (intelektuálec) Finnish: älykkö (fi), ajattelija (fi) Maori: ihumanea Portuguese: intelectual (pt) m or f Romanian: intelectual (ro) m, intelectuală (ro) f Russian: интеллектуа́л (ru) m (intellektuál)

See also

• mind

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French intellect or Latin intellēctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.tə.lɛkt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧tel‧lect

Noun

intellect n (plural intellecten, no diminutive)

1. intellect

   Synonym: intelligentie

Related terms

• intellectueel

Descendants

• → Indonesian: intélék

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “intellect”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin intellēctus (“understanding, intellect”), perfect passive participle of Latin intellegō (“understand; reason”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.lɛkt/ ~ /ɛ̃.te.lɛkt/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Noun

intellect m (plural intellects)

1. (psychology, philosophy) intellect

Related terms

• intellectuel

See also

• affect

Further reading

• “intellect”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.