Etymology

intelligent

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Today it means: Of high or especially quick cognitive capacity, bright. Full definition →

Middle French intelligent ← Latin intelligēns ← Proto-Italic *legō?
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intelligent · adjective1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁n̥tér
  3. Proto-Italic*n̥ter
  4. Latininter
  5. Latininter-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*léǵeti
  8. Proto-Italic*legō
  9. Latinlegō?
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₂leg-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂légeti
  12. Proto-Italic*legō?
  13. Latinintelligō
  14. Latinintelligēns
  15. Middle Frenchintelligent
  16. English todayintelligent

From Middle French intelligent, from Latin intellegēns (“discerning”), present active participle of intellegō (“understand, comprehend”), itself from inter (“between”) + legō (“choose, pick out, read”).

intelligent · noun2

  1. Russian · borrowed fromинтеллиге́нт
  2. English todayintelligent

Partly from Russian интеллиге́нт (intelligént) and partly from the adjective.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.