Etymology

intellect

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Today it means: The faculty of thinking, judging, abstract reasoning, and conceptual understanding; the cognitive faculty. Full definition →

Late Latin intellēctus ← Latin intellegō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromintellegō“understand; reason”
  2. Late Latin · borrowed fromintellēctus“understanding, intellect”
  3. English todayintellect

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.