intelligent

See also: intel·ligent

English

Alternative forms

• entelligent (obsolete)

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

intelligent (comparative more intelligent or (rare, proscribed) intelligenter, superlative most intelligent or (rare, proscribed) intelligentest)

1. Of high or especially quick cognitive capacity, bright.
   • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings:

     Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”

2. Well thought-out, well considered.

   The engineer had a very intelligent design proposal for the new car.

   The general devised an intelligent strategy for the southern campaign.

3. Characterized by thoughtful interaction.

   My girlfriend and I had an intelligent conversation.

4. Having at least a similar level of brain power to humankind.

   The hunt for extraterrestrial intelligent life continues.

5. (computing) Having an environment-sensing automatically-invoked built-in computer capability.

   an intelligent network or keyboard

Synonyms

• (of high or quick cognitive capacity): See Thesaurus:intelligent
• (similar level of brain power to mankind): See Thesaurus:self-aware

Antonyms

• stupid
• dumb
• unintelligent

Derived terms

• artificially intelligent
• general intelligent action
• intelligent agent
• intelligent character recognition
• intelligent dance music
• intelligent design
• intelligent designer
• intelligent designism
• intelligent disobedience
• intelligent falling
• intelligent haunting
• intelligent system
• intelligent terminal
• intelligent transportation system

Translations

of high or especially quick cognitive capacity, bright

• Adyghe: акъыл (aqəl)
• Albanian: i zgjuar (sq)
• Arabic: ذَكِيّ (ḏakiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: زكي (zakī)

• Armenian: խելացի (hy) (xelacʻi), խելոք (hy) (xelokʻ)
• Aromanian: dishteptu
• Assamese: বুধিয়ক (budhik)
• Asturian: intelixente
• Bashkir: аҡыллы (aqıllı)
• Belarusian: разу́мны (razúmny)
• Bengali: বুদ্ধিমান (bn) (buddhiman)
• Bulgarian: интелигентен (bg) (inteligenten), схватлив (bg) (shvatliv)
• Catalan: intel·ligent (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏌᎹᏗ (asamadi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聰明 / 聪明 (zh) (cōngming), 聰慧 / 聪慧 (zh) (cōnghuì)

• Czech: inteligentní (cs)
• Dutch: intelligent (nl)
• Esperanto: inteligenta (eo)
• Finnish: älykäs (fi)
• French: intelligent (fr)
• Galician: intelixente (gl), espelido
• Georgian: ინტელიგენტური (inṭeligenṭuri), საზრიანი (ka) (sazriani)
• German: klug (de); intelligent (de)
• Greek: έξυπνος (el) (éxypnos)

  Ancient: συνετός (sunetós)

• Hebrew: נָבוֹן (he) m (navón)
• Hindi: बुद्धिमान (hi) (buddhimān), चतुर (hi) (catur)
• Hungarian: intelligens (hu)
• Icelandic: gáfaður
• Ido: inteligenta (io)
• Irish: éirimiúil
• Italian: intelligente (it)
• Japanese: 聡明な (ja) (そうめいな, sōmei na), 賢い (ja) (かしこい, kashikoi), 利口な (ja) (りこうな, rikō na)
• Karakhanid: بِلْكا (bilgē)
• Kavalan: msanem
• Khmer: ឆ្លាត (km) (chlaat)
• Korean: (predicate) 똑똑하다 (ko) (ttokttok-hada), (attributive) 똑똑한 (ttokttok-han), 총명하다 (ko) (chongmyeong-hada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زیرەک (zîrek)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: intelligens, catus
• Latvian: prātīgs, saprātīgs, gudrs (lv)
• Lingala: mayele
• Lithuanian: protingas
• Malay: cerdas (ms), pintar (ms)
• Malayalam: ബുദ്ധിയുള്ള (buddhiyuḷḷa)
• Maori: punenga, koi te hinengaro
• Mongolian: ухаалаг (mn) (uxaalag)
• Norwegian: intelligent (no)
• Occitan: intelligent (oc)
• Old English: andġietol
• Persian: باهوش (fa) (bâ-huš), هوشمند (fa) (huš-mand)
• Plautdietsch: Forcht f, beschläpen
• Polish: inteligentny (pl)
• Portuguese: inteligente (pt)
• Punjabi: ਅਕਲਮੰਦ (pa) (akalmand)
• Romanian: inteligent (ro), deștept (ro)
• Russian: у́мный (ru) (úmnyj), разу́мный (ru) (razúmnyj), сообрази́тельный (ru) (soobrazítelʹnyj), смышлёный (ru) (smyšljónyj), поня́тливый (ru) (ponjátlivyj)
• Sango: mayele
• Sanskrit: प्रज्ञ (sa) (prajña), चतुर (sa) (catura), मनु (sa) (manu)
• Sicilian: ntilliggenti (scn), spertu
• Slovak: inteligentný
• Spanish: inteligente (es)
• Swahili: akili (sw)
• Swedish: intelligent (sv), klyftig (sv) (colloquial), klok (sv)
• Tagalog: intelihente, matalino, (literally) matalino
• Thai: ฉลาด (th) (chà-làat)
• Turkish: akıllı (tr)
• Ukrainian: розу́мний (rozúmnyj)
• Urdu: ہوشیار (hośiyār)
• Vietnamese: thông minh (vi) (聰明 (vi))
• Welsh: deallus (cy)

well thought-out, well considered

• Asturian: intelixente
• Bulgarian: умен (bg) (umen), разумен (bg) (razumen)
• Catalan: intel·ligent (ca)
• Dutch: intelligent (nl), doordacht (nl)
• Finnish: älykäs (fi)
• French: intelligent (fr)
• Galician: intelixente (gl)
• German: klug (de); intelligent (de)
• Greek: έξυπνος (el) (éxypnos)
• Italian: intelligente (it)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زیرەک (zîrek)

• Occitan: intelligent (oc)
• Portuguese: inteligente (pt)
• Russian: у́мный (ru) (úmnyj), проду́манный (ru) (prodúmannyj), разу́мный (ru) (razúmnyj), здра́вый (ru) (zdrávyj)
• Spanish: inteligente (es)
• Tagalog: intelihente, pinag-isipan

characterized by thoughtful interaction

• Bulgarian: смислен (bg) (smislen)
• Catalan: intel·ligent (ca)
• Dutch: intelligent (nl)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi)
• French: intelligent (fr)
• German: intelligent (de)
• Italian: intelligente (it)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زیرەک (zîrek)

• Portuguese: inteligente (pt)
• Spanish: inteligente (es)
• Swedish: intelligent (sv)
• Tagalog: intelihente, matalino

having at least a similar level of brain power to humankind

• French: intelligent (fr)
• German: intelligent (de)
• Greek: νοήμων (el) (noḯmon)
• Italian: intelligente (it)
• Spanish: inteligente (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} inteligenta (eo)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} intelligente
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 지적인 (jijeogin)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 聪颖的 (zh) (cōngying de)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} తెలివైన (telivaina)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ฉลาด (th) (cha-lard)

Etymology 2

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

Noun

intelligent (plural intelligents)

1. A member of the intelligentsia; an intelligent person.
   • 1832, The Comparative Coincidence of Reason and Scripture, volume II, London: J[ohn] Hatchard and Son, […], page 253:

     Now, as all intelligents are doomed to pass probationary states, it is highly probable that many intelligents, long antecedent to the foundation of our world, may have tarnished their innocence; or worse, many may have by disobedience fallen.

   • 1972, Olga Matich, Paradox in the Religious Poetry of Zinaida Gippius, Wilhelm Fink, →ISBN, page 30:

     Like many Russian intelligents, the Merežkovskijs, together with Filosofov and the young student Vladimir Zlobin, fled from Russia in 1919.

   • 2000, Nadieszda Kizenko, A Prodigal Saint: Father John of Kronstadt and the Russian People, The Pennsylvania State University Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 248:

     But if you fall away from your faith, as many intelligents have fallen away, then you will no longer be Russia or Holy Rus’, but a rabble of all kinds of other faiths who wish to destroy one another.

   • 2011, Evgenii L’vovich Feinberg, translated by Andrei Vladimirovich Leonidov, Physicists: Epoch and Personalities (History of Modern Physical Sciences; 4), World Scientific, →ISBN, page 43:

     Many Russian intelligents, in particular scientists, that already in tsarist times were “infected” by liberal and even socialist ideas found in the revolution and the societal structure that followed, with all its horrible features, positive sides.

Danish

Etymology

From French intelligent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /enteliɡɛnt/, [entˢeliˈɡ̊ɛnˀd̥]

Adjective

intelligent

1. intelligent

Inflection

Inflection of intelligent

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	intelligent	—	—2
indefinite neuter singular	intelligent	—	—2
plural	intelligente	—	—2
definite attributive1	intelligente	—	—

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Synonyms

• begavet

Antonyms

• dum
• uintelligent

Derived terms

• intelligent liv
• uintelligent

Related terms

• intelligens

References

• “intelligent” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

intelligent (comparative intelligenter, superlative intelligentst)

1. intelligent, bright, smart

Declension

Declension of intelligent
uninflected	intelligent
inflected	intelligente
comparative	intelligenter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		intelligent	intelligenter	het intelligentst het intelligentste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	intelligente	intelligentere	intelligentste
	n. sing.	intelligent	intelligenter	intelligentste
	plural	intelligente	intelligentere	intelligentste
definite		intelligente	intelligentere	intelligentste
partitive		intelligents	intelligenters	—

Related terms

• intellect
• intellectueel m & adjective
• intelligentia
• intelligentie

Descendants

• → Indonesian: inteligen

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intelligentem (“discerning”), present active participle of intellegō (“understand, comprehend”), itself from inter (“between”) + legō (“choose, pick out, read”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.li.ʒɑ̃/ ~ /ɛ̃.te.li.ʒɑ̃/, /ɛ̃.tɛl.li.ʒɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

intelligent (feminine intelligente, masculine plural intelligents, feminine plural intelligentes)

1. intelligent

Derived terms

• intelligemment
• téléphone intelligent

Related terms

• intellect
• intellectuel
• intelligence
• intelligible

Further reading

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

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔɪntɛliˈɡɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

intelligent (strong nominative masculine singular intelligenter, comparative intelligenter, superlative am intelligentesten)

1. intelligent

   Synonym: klug

   • 2010, Der Spiegel‎^[1], number 5/2010, page 100:

     Delphine sind die mit Abstand intelligentesten aller Tiere.

     Dolphins are by far the most intelligent of all animals.

Declension

Positive forms of intelligent

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist intelligent	sie ist intelligent	es ist intelligent	sie sind intelligent
strong declension (without article)	nominative	intelligenter	intelligente	intelligentes	intelligente
	genitive	intelligenten	intelligenter	intelligenten	intelligenter
	dative	intelligentem	intelligenter	intelligentem	intelligenten
	accusative	intelligenten	intelligente	intelligentes	intelligente
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der intelligente	die intelligente	das intelligente	die intelligenten
	genitive	des intelligenten	der intelligenten	des intelligenten	der intelligenten
	dative	dem intelligenten	der intelligenten	dem intelligenten	den intelligenten
	accusative	den intelligenten	die intelligente	das intelligente	die intelligenten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein intelligenter	eine intelligente	ein intelligentes	(keine) intelligenten
	genitive	eines intelligenten	einer intelligenten	eines intelligenten	(keiner) intelligenten
	dative	einem intelligenten	einer intelligenten	einem intelligenten	(keinen) intelligenten
	accusative	einen intelligenten	eine intelligente	ein intelligentes	(keine) intelligenten

Comparative forms of intelligent

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist intelligenter	sie ist intelligenter	es ist intelligenter	sie sind intelligenter
strong declension (without article)	nominative	intelligenterer	intelligentere	intelligenteres	intelligentere
	genitive	intelligenteren	intelligenterer	intelligenteren	intelligenterer
	dative	intelligenterem	intelligenterer	intelligenterem	intelligenteren
	accusative	intelligenteren	intelligentere	intelligenteres	intelligentere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der intelligentere	die intelligentere	das intelligentere	die intelligenteren
	genitive	des intelligenteren	der intelligenteren	des intelligenteren	der intelligenteren
	dative	dem intelligenteren	der intelligenteren	dem intelligenteren	den intelligenteren
	accusative	den intelligenteren	die intelligentere	das intelligentere	die intelligenteren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein intelligenterer	eine intelligentere	ein intelligenteres	(keine) intelligenteren
	genitive	eines intelligenteren	einer intelligenteren	eines intelligenteren	(keiner) intelligenteren
	dative	einem intelligenteren	einer intelligenteren	einem intelligenteren	(keinen) intelligenteren
	accusative	einen intelligenteren	eine intelligentere	ein intelligenteres	(keine) intelligenteren

Superlative forms of intelligent

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am intelligentesten	sie ist am intelligentesten	es ist am intelligentesten	sie sind am intelligentesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	intelligentester	intelligenteste	intelligentestes	intelligenteste
	genitive	intelligentesten	intelligentester	intelligentesten	intelligentester
	dative	intelligentestem	intelligentester	intelligentestem	intelligentesten
	accusative	intelligentesten	intelligenteste	intelligentestes	intelligenteste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der intelligenteste	die intelligenteste	das intelligenteste	die intelligentesten
	genitive	des intelligentesten	der intelligentesten	des intelligentesten	der intelligentesten
	dative	dem intelligentesten	der intelligentesten	dem intelligentesten	den intelligentesten
	accusative	den intelligentesten	die intelligenteste	das intelligenteste	die intelligentesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein intelligentester	eine intelligenteste	ein intelligentestes	(keine) intelligentesten
	genitive	eines intelligentesten	einer intelligentesten	eines intelligentesten	(keiner) intelligentesten
	dative	einem intelligentesten	einer intelligentesten	einem intelligentesten	(keinen) intelligentesten
	accusative	einen intelligentesten	eine intelligenteste	ein intelligentestes	(keine) intelligentesten

Related terms

• hochintelligent
• Intelligenz
• Intellekt
• intellektuell m

Further reading

• “intelligent” in Duden online
• “intelligent” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Latin

Verb

intelligent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of intelligō

Swedish

Adjective

intelligent (comparative intelligentare, superlative intelligentast)

1. intelligent, bright

   Antonym: ointelligent

Declension

Inflection of intelligent

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	intelligent	intelligentare	intelligentast
neuter singular	intelligent	intelligentare	intelligentast
plural	intelligenta	intelligentare	intelligentast
masculine plural2	intelligente	intelligentare	intelligentast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	intelligente	intelligentare	intelligentaste
all	intelligenta	intelligentare	intelligentaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• intelligens

Adverb

intelligent (comparative intelligentare, superlative intelligentast)

1. intelligently

References

• intelligent in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• intelligent in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• intelligent in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)