entendement

French

Etymology

From entendre (“to understand”) +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.tɑ̃d.mɑ̃/

Noun

entendement m (uncountable)

1. understanding, comprehension

   Synonym: compréhension

   dépasser l’entendement ― to be beyond comprehension, to beggar belief

2. the intellect, capacity of rational understanding
   • 1647, René Descartes, translated by Louis-Charles d'Albert de Luynes, Méditations métaphysiques [Meditations on First Philosophy]:

     les corps mêmes ne sont pas proprement connus par les sens ou par la faculté d’imaginer, mais par le seul entendement […]

     The very bodies [of humans] are not strictly known through the senses or the faculty of imagination, but only by the intellect […]

Derived terms

• dépasser l’entendement

Further reading

• “entendement”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.