intelligence

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old French intelligence.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈtɛl.ɪˌd​͡ʒəns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

intelligence (countable and uncountable; plural intelligences)

1. (uncountable) Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to learn and comprehend.
   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.

2. (countable) An entity that has such capacities.
3. (uncountable) Information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
4. (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.

Synonyms

• (capacity of mind): wit, intellect, brightness
• See also Wikisaurus:intelligence

Derived terms

• artificial intelligence
• machine intelligence
• CIA
• IQ
• MI5
• MI6
• SIS

Translations

capacity of mind

• Albanian: zbulimit (sq)
• Arabic: ذكاء (ar) (dhakaa') m
• Armenian: բանականություն (hy) (banakanut'yun), խելք (hy) (xelk’)
• Asturian: intelixencia (ast) f
• Bashkir: аҡыл (aqïl)
• Catalan: intel·ligència (ca) f, seny (ca) m, llestesa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心智 (cmn) (xīnzhì), 智力 (cmn) (zhìlì)

• Czech: inteligence (cs) f
• Danish: intelligens (da) c
• Dutch: intelligentie (nl) f
• Esperanto: inteligenteco (eo)
• Estonian: arukus (et)
• Faroese: vit (fo) n
• Finnish: äly (fi), älykkyys (fi)
• French: intelligence (fr) f
• German: Intelligenz (de) f
• Greek: νοημοσύνη (el) (noimosýni) f
• Hebrew: אינטליגנציה (he) (inteligéntsya) f, שכל (he) (sekhel) m
• Hindi: बुद्धि (hi) (buddhi)
• Hungarian: intelligencia (hu)
• Icelandic: greind (is) f
• Ido: inteligenteso (io)
• Italian: intelligenza (it) f

• Japanese: 知力 (ja) (ちりょく, chiryokú)
• Korean: 지혜 (ko) (jihye), 이해력 (ko) (ihaeryeok)
• Latin: ingenium (la) n, intelligentia (la) f
• Latvian: saprāts (lv) m
• Lithuanian: inteligencija (lt) f
• Macedonian: интелигенција (mk) (inteligéncija) f
• Mongolian: оюун ухаан (mn) (oyuun uhaan)
• Norwegian: intelligens (no) m
• Old English: orþanc (ang) m
• Persian: هوش (fa) (hush)
• Polish: inteligencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: inteligência (pt) f
• Romanian: inteligență (ro), judecată (ro)
• Russian: интеллект (ru) (intellékt) m, интеллигентность (ru) (intelligéntnost') f
• Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा (sa) (prajñā)
• Serbo-Croatian: inteligencija (sh) f
• Slovene: inteligenca (sl) f
• Spanish: inteligencia (es) f
• Swedish: intelligens (sv) c
• Telugu: మేధస్సు (te) (meadhassu)
• Thai: ปรีชา (th) (bpreechaa), เมธา (th) (maytaa), สมอง (th) (sàmŏng)
• Turkish: zekâ (tr)
• Yiddish: שׂכל (yi) (seykhl) m

entity that has such capacities

• Catalan: intel·ligència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 情報 (cmn), 情报 (cmn) (qíngbào)

• Czech: inteligence (cs) f
• Danish: intelligens (da) c
• Dutch: intelligent wezen (nl) n
• Esperanto: inteligento (eo)
• Estonian: haritlane (et)

• German: intelligentes Leben (de) n
• Greek: ευφυΐα (el) (effyḯa) f
• Macedonian: интелигенција (mk) (inteligéncija) f
• Portuguese: inteligência (pt) f
• Russian: интеллигенция (ru) (intelligéncija) f
• Serbo-Croatian: inteligencija (sh) f
• Turkish: akıllı yaşam (tr)

information about the enemy

• Arabic: معلومات (ar) (ma3lumaat) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 情報 (cmn), 情报 (cmn) (qíngbào)

• Danish: efterretninger (da) pl
• Dutch: inlichtingen (nl) pl
• Estonian: luureandmed (et)
• Finnish: tiedustelutieto (fi)
• French: renseignements (fr) m pl
• German: Geheimdienstinformationen (de) f pl
• Greek: πληροφορία (el) (pliroforía) f

• Japanese: 情報 (ja) (じょうほう, jōhō)
• Korean: 정보 (ko) (jeongbo) (情報 (ko))
• Latin: nūntius (la) m
• Macedonian: разузнавање (mk) (razuznávanje) n
• Polish: wywiad (pl) m
• Portuguese: inteligência (pt) f
• Russian: разведданные (ru) (razveddánnyje) n pl, разведывательные данные (ru) (razvédyvatel'nyje dánnyje) n pl, сведения (ru) (svédenija) n pl
• Turkish: istihbarat (tr) (istihbārat)

a department, agency or unit designed to gather such information

• Arabic: جهاز المخابرات (ar) (jihaaz al-mukhaabaraat) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 情報機構 (cmn), 情报机构 (cmn) (qíngbào jīgòu)

• Czech: zpravodajská služba (cs) f, rozvědka (cs) f
• Danish: efterretningstjeneste (da) c
• Dutch: inlichtingendienst (nl) m
• Estonian: luure (et)
• Faroese: fregnartænasta (fo) f
• Finnish: sotilastiedustelu (fi)
• French: renseignements (fr) m pl
• German: Geheimdienst (de) m, Nachrichtendienst (de) m, Sicherheitsdienst (de) m

• Greek: υπηρεσία πληροφοριών (el) (ypiresía pliroforión) f
• Hebrew: אגף המודיעין (he) (agaf ha'modi'in)
• Hungarian: hírszerzés (hu)
• Japanese: 情報機関 (ja) (じょうほうきかん, jōhō kikan)
• Macedonian: разузнавачка служба (mk) (razuznávačka slúžba) f
• Portuguese: inteligência (pt) f
• Russian: разведка (ru) (razvédka) f
• Serbo-Croatian: obavještajna služba (sh) f
• Slovene: obveščevalna služba (sl) f
• Turkish: istihbarat teşkilatı (tr) (istihbārat teşkīlātı)

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French

Etymology

From Latin intellegentia (“the act of choosing between, intelligence”), from intellegō (“understand”), from inter (“between”) + legō (“choose, pick out, read”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence; cleverness
2. comprehension

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Italian

Etymology

English intelligence.

Noun

intelligence f (invariable)

1. A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information.

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Middle French

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence
2. comprehension
   • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 10:

     Je souhaiterois avoir plus parfaicte comprehension des choses, mais je ne la veux pas achepter si cher qu’elle couste.

     I would like to have a more perfect knowledge of everything, but I don't want to buy it for how much it costs

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Old French

Noun

intelligence f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)

1. comprehension
2. meaning
3. ability to comprehend

Descendants

• English: intelligence (borrowed)
• French: intelligence

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881)