intelligence | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

63 entries found.

"pertaining to, performed by, or originating in the intellect," 1650s, from Greek noētikos "intelligent," from noēsis "a perception, intelligence, thought" (see noesis). Related: Noetical (1640s).

pinhead (n.)

also pin-head, "the head of a pin," 1660s, from pin (n.) + head (n.). From mid-15c. as the type of something small or a minuscule amount. Meaning "person of little intelligence" (and/or a small head) is by 1896. Related: Pinheaded.

anima (n.)

Jung's term for the inner part of the personality, or the female component of a masculine personality, 1923, from fem. of Latin animus "the rational soul; life; the mental powers, intelligence" (see animus). For earlier use in the sense "soul, vital principle," see anima mundi.

stupidity (n.)

1540s, "want of intelligence," from Latin stupiditatem (nominative stupiditas) "dullness, stupidity, senselessness," from stupidus "confounded, amazed; dull, foolish" (see stupid). It also at various times meant "lack of feeling or emotion" (1560s); "stupor, numbness" (c. 1600).

emotional (adj.)

1821, "pertaining to emotion," from emotion + -al (1). Meaning "characterized by or subject to emotions" is attested by 1857. Related: Emotionally. Emotional intelligence was coined by mid-1960s, popular from mid-1980s.

conceited (adj.)

c. 1600, "having an overweening opinion of oneself" (short for self-conceited, 1590s), past-participle adjective from conceit (v.) "conceive, imagine, think" (1550s), a now-obsolete verb from conceit (n.). Earlier it meant "having intelligence, ingenious, witty" (1540s). Related: Conceitedly; conceitedness.

mansplain (v.)

"to explain, as a man to a woman, in a way that she feels insults or ignores her intelligence and experience in the matter," by 2008, from man (n.) + second element from explain (v.). The form 'splain, as a clip of explain, had been used at least since the 1960s as a colloquialism. Related: Mansplained; mansplaining.

smart (adj.)

late Old English smeart "painful, severe, stinging; causing a sharp pain," related to smeortan (see smart (v.)). Meaning "executed with force and vigor" is from c. 1300. Meaning "quick, active, clever" is attested from c. 1300, from the notion of "cutting" wit, words, etc., or else "keen in bargaining." Meaning "trim in attire" first attested 1718, "ascending from the kitchen to the drawing-room c. 1880" [Weekley]. For sense evolution, compare sharp (adj.).

In reference to devices, the sense of "behaving as though guided by intelligence" (as in smart bomb) first attested 1972. Smarts "good sense, intelligence," is first recorded 1968 (Middle English had ingeny "intellectual capacity, cleverness" (early 15c.)). Smart cookie is from 1948.

anima mundi (n.)

"spiritual essence, distinct from matter and supposed in the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato to be diffused throughout the universe, organizing and acting through the whole of it," 1670s, Medieval Latin, literally "soul of the world;" used by Abelard to render Greek psyche tou kosmou. From fem. of Latin animus "the rational soul; life; the mental powers, intelligence" (see animus) + genitive of mundus "universe, world" (see mundane).

inanity (n.)

c. 1600, "emptiness, hollowness," literal and figurative, from French inanité (14c.) or directly from Latin inanitas "emptiness, empty space," figuratively "worthlessness," noun of quality from inanis "empty, void; worthless, useless," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan writes that "The chronology of attestations suggests that 'empty, devoid of' is older than 'hollow'." Meaning "silliness, want of intelligence" is from 1753.

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