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
• Māori: 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)
• 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

  Latin: 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 (hüš), 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)

  Ottoman Turkish: عقل (ʼakl, ʼakıl), ذهن (zihin), ذكا (zekâ)

• 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)
• Korean: 지식인(知識人) (ko) (jisigin)
• Māori: 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