prodigy

English

Etymology

From Middle English prodige (“portent”), from Latin prōdigium (“omen, portent, prophetic sign”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒdɪd͡ʒi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑdɪd͡ʒi/
• Hyphenation: prod‧i‧gy

Noun

prodigy (plural prodigies)

1. An extraordinary occurrence or creature; an anomaly, especially a monster; a freak. [from 16th c.]
2. An amazing or marvellous thing; a wonder. [from 17th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 153:

     He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him.

3. A wonderful example of something. [from 17th c.]
4. An extremely talented person, especially a child. [from 17th c.]
5. (archaic) An extraordinary thing seen as an omen; a portent. [from 15th c.]
   • 1717, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book XII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:

     These on the farther bank now stood and gazed, / By Heaven alarm’d, by prodigies amazed: / A signal omen stopp’d the passing host, / Their martial fury in their wonder lost.

   • 1727, William Warburton, “Part I”, in A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as Related by Historians. […], London: […] Thomas Corbett, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     Prodigies and Portents have infected the beſt VVritings of Antiquity; and have ſo blotted and deformed our modern Annals, that (vvith greater Juſtice than Polybius has obſerv'd it, of the former) they may be rather called Tragedies than History.

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 87:

     John Foxe believed that special prodigies had heralded the Reformation.

Synonyms

• (extremely talented person): wunderkind, girl wonder, girl-genius, boy-genius, boy wonder, child prodigy.

Coordinate terms

• (extremely talented person): idiot savant, savant

Translations

amazing or marvelous thing

• Bulgarian: чудо (bg) n (čudo)
• Catalan: prodigi (ca) m
• Czech: zázrak (cs) m
• Danish: vidunder
• Dutch: wonder (nl) n, mirakel (nl) n
• Finnish: ihme (fi)
• French: prodige (fr) m, prodigie f, miracle (fr) m, merveille (fr) f
• German: Wunder (de) n
• Hungarian: csoda (hu)
• Italian: prodigio (it)
• Japanese: 驚異 (ja) (kyōi)
• Latin: prodigium f
• Maori: inati
• Ottoman Turkish: معجزه (muʿcize), علامت (ʼalamet)
• Portuguese: prodígio (pt) m, maravilha (pt) f
• Russian: чудо (ru) n (čudo)
• Spanish: maravilla (es), prodigio (es), portento (es), cosa extraña, milagro (es)
• Swedish: under (sv) n, underverk (sv) n, vidunder (sv) n, mirakel (sv) n

wonderful example of something

• Bulgarian: феномен (bg) m (fenomen)
• Catalan: prodigi (ca) m
• Finnish: malliesimerkki
• Maori: inati
• Swedish: under (sv) n, underverk (sv) n
• Turkish: mucize (tr)

extremely talented person, especially a child

• Bulgarian: вундеркинд m (vunderkind)
• Catalan: prodigi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神童 (zh) (shéntóng) (of a child), 聖童／圣童 (zh) (shèngtóng), 資優兒童／资优儿童 (zīyōu értóng)

• Czech: zázračné dítě n (of a child), génius (cs) m
• Dutch: wonderkind (nl) n
• Finnish: ihmelapsi
• French: enfant prodige (fr) m (of a child), génie (fr), phénomène (fr)
• German: Wunderkind (de) n (of a child), Hochbegabter m, Hochbegabte f, Genie (de) n
• Hungarian: csodagyerek (hu)
• Italian: prodigio (it) m, fenomeno (it) m
• Japanese: 神童 (ja) (しんどう, shindō) (of a child)
• Maori: taniwha
• Norwegian: vidunderbarn n
• Portuguese: prodígio (pt) m
• Russian: вундерки́нд (ru) m (vunderkínd) (of a child), ге́ний (ru) m (génij)
• Spanish: prodigio (es) m, fenómeno (es), genio (es), niño prodigio
• Swedish: underbarn (sv) n
• Turkish: dâhi çocuk

extraordinary thing seen as an omen

• Bulgarian: знамение (bg) n (znamenie)
• Catalan: prodigi (ca) m
• Czech: znamení (cs) n
• Finnish: enne (fi), ennusmerkki (fi)
• French: présage (fr), augure (fr), auspices (fr)
• German: Orakel (de)
• Italian: presagio (it)
• Japanese: 前兆 (ja) (zenchō)
• Latin: prodigium f
• Maori: inati
• Portuguese: presságio (pt) m
• Spanish: presagio (es), augurio (es), agüero (es), auspicio (es)
• Turkish: kâhin (tr)

See also

• precocious
• prodigal
• child prodigy
• prodigy house

References

• “prodigy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “prodigy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “prodigy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Further reading

• prodigy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia