genius

English Online Dictionary. What means genius‎? What does genius mean?

English

Etymology

From Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-. Doublet of genio. See also genus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: jēniəs, jēnyəs
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒiː.nɪəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒin.jəs/, /ˈd͡ʒi.ni.əs/
• Rhymes: -iːniəs, -iːnjəs

Noun

genius (countable and uncountable, plural geniuses or genii)

2. (countable) Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:genius

   Antonym: idiot

   Coordinate term: idiot savant

4. (uncountable) Extraordinary mental capacity.
6. (uncountable) Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.

8. (countable, Roman mythology, also figuratively) The tutelary deity or spirit of a place or person.

   Synonyms: tutelary deity; see also Thesaurus:spirit

Usage notes

• The plural genii, although usual in mythology (sense 4), is rare and only used humorously to refer to talented or smart people (sense 1).

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

genius (comparative more genius, superlative most genius)

1. (informal) Ingenious, brilliant, very clever, or original.

Usage notes

• Some writers put this word in quotation marks, especially in comparative or superlative expressions, indicating that they do not yet find it fully acceptable.

Translations

Further reading

• “genius”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “genius”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• "genius" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 143.

Anagrams

• Seguin

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• jenius (nonstandard)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-. Doublet of enjin, insinyur, and zeni.

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): [ɡeˈniʊs]
• (common) IPA^(key): [dʒeˈniʊs]
• Hyphenation: gé‧ni‧us

Adjective

genius

1. genius: ingenious, brilliant, very clever, or original.

Affixed terms

Further reading

• “genius” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”), perhaps through Old Latin genō (“to beget, give birth; to produce, cause”), +‎ *-yos; compare Proto-Germanic *kunją (“kin”) and Sanskrit जन्य n (jánya, “lineage, tribe, people”), though all probably independent formations. Comparisons with Aramaic ܓܢܝܐ (ginnaya, “tutelary deity”), and with Arabic جِنِّي (jinnī, “jinn, spirit, demon”) and جَنِين (janīn, “embryo, germ”), suggest the effects of an older substrate word.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈɡe.ni.us/, [ˈɡɛniʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒe.ni.us/, [ˈd͡ʒɛːnius]

Noun

genius m (genitive geniī or genī); second declension

1. the deity or guardian spirit of a person, place, etc.; a daemon, a daimon (cf. Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn))
2. an inborn nature or innate character, especially (though not exclusively) as endowed by a personal (especially tutelar) spirit or deity.
3. (with respect to the enjoyment of life) the spirit of social enjoyment, fondness for good living, taste, appetite, inclinations
4. (of the intellect) wit, talents, genius (rare)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Quotations

• Catullus[,] Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris, 1921, page 328f. containing Albius Tibullus III, XI, 9f. = IV, V, 9f. with a translation into English by J. P. Postgate:

  magne Geni, cape tura libens votisque faveto,
  si modo, cum de me cogitat, ille calet.

  Great Genius, take this incense with a will, and smile upon my prayer, if only when he thinks on me his pulse beats high.

Descendants

References

• “genius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “genius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• genius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• genius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “genius”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “genius”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “genius”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 260

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin genius. Doublet of geni.

Noun

genius m (definite singular geniusen, indefinite plural genier, definite plural geniene)

1. genius

References

• “genius” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “genius” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin genius. Doublet of geni.

Noun

genius m (definite singular geniusen, indefinite plural geniusar, definite plural geniusane)

1. genius

References

• “genius” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.