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START / NODE 436Present-Day Englishcirca 1540–today
intelligent
Having or showing understanding, judgment, or mental capacity; borrowed from the Latin participle of intellegere.
“English intelligent was not built from English intelligence. The adjective enters from Latin intelligens, while the English noun follows its own French and Latin abstract-noun route.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishintelligent
having or showing understanding, judgment, or mental capacity; later also computer-guided
↑GO DEEPER
Latin · Latin antiquityintelligēnsunderstanding, discerning
- SOUND CHANGE
- English intelligent adapts the Latin participial stem intelligent- with English stress, vowel, and final-consonant treatment.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Latin understanding and discernment become the English adjective for mental capacity, judgment, and later computer-guided behavior.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster · American Heritage editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- Merriam-Webster reports first known English use circa 1540.
2 CITATIONSIntelligent — Word HistoryWord History and First Known Use American Heritage Dictionary: intelligentHeadword etymology and definitions AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 402 ↗
Documents direct Latin participial ancestry and circa-1540 English use.
ORIGINAL ↗Independently documents the Latin participle and the understanding and judgment senses.
ORIGINAL ↗THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
Crossing into a starred form changes the evidence class. The interface marks that crossing, preserves confidence, and never manufactures the next root to make the picture look complete.