instinct

English

Etymology

From Latin īnstinctus, past participle of īnstinguō (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguō (“to prick”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.stɪŋkt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

instinct (countable and uncountable, plural instincts)

1. A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.

   Many animals fear fire by instinct.

   • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust / Ensuing dangers.

   • 1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind:

     In spite of these qualifications, the broad distinction between instinct and habit is undeniable. To take extreme cases, every animal at birth can take food by instinct, before it has had opportunity to learn; on the other hand, no one can ride a bicycle by instinct, though, after learning, the necessary movements become just as automatic as if they were instinctive.

2. An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought.

   an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct

   Debbie's instinct was to distrust John.

Derived terms

• instinctively
• instinctive

Translations

natural or inherent impulse or behaviour

• Afrikaans: instink
• Arabic: غَرِيزَة f (ḡarīza), سَلِيقَة f (salīqa), فِطْرَة f (fiṭra)
• Bulgarian: инстикт m (instikt)
• Catalan: instint (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 本能 (zh) (běnnéng), 天性 (zh) (tiānxìng)

• Czech: pud m (1), instinkt m (1)
• Dutch: instinct (nl) n
• Finnish: vaisto (fi), vietti (fi)
• French: instinct (fr) m
• German: Instinkt (de) m
• Greek: ένστικτο [ˈe̞n.sti.kto̞] n, ένστιχτο [ˈe̞n.sti.xto̞] n
• Hebrew: אינסטינקט (he) m (instinkt), יֵצֶר (he) m (yétzer)
• Hindi: फ़ितरत (hi) f (fitrat), वृत्ति (hi) f (vŕtti), सलीक़ा m (salīqā)
• Hungarian: ösztön (hu)
• Indonesian: insting (id)
• Italian: istinto (it) m
• Japanese: 本能 (ja) (ほんのう, honnō)
• Korean: 본능 (ko) (bonneung) (本能 (ko))
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: naluri, garizah, insting
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: instinkt n

  Nynorsk: instinkt n

• Persian: غریزه (fa) (ğarize)
• Polish: instynkt (pl) m
• Portuguese: instinto (pt) m
• Russian: инсти́нкт (ru) m (instínkt)
• Serbo-Croatian: nágon (sh) m
• Slovene: nagon m
• Sotho: tshekamelo
• Spanish: instinto (es) m
• Swedish: instinkt (sv) c
• Thai: สัญชาตญาณ (sân-čhāt-yān)
• Turkish: içgüdü (tr), insiyak (tr), sevkitabii (tr)
• Vietnamese: bản năng (vi) (本能)

intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought

• Bulgarian: интуиция (bg) f (intuicija)
• Finnish: vaisto (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

instinct (comparative more instinct, superlative most instinct)

1. (archaic) Imbued, charged (with something).
   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The chariot of paternal deity […] / Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed / By four cherubic shapes.

   • (Can we date this quote by Brougham and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     a noble performance, instinct with sound principle

   • 1857, Charlotte Brontë, The Professor

     Her eyes, whose colour I had not at first known, so dim were they with repressed tears, so shadowed with ceaseless dejection, now, lit by a ray of the sunshine that cheered her heart, revealed irids of bright hazel – irids large and full, screened with long lashes; and pupils instinct with fire.

   • 1928, HP Lovecraft, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’:

     This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters.

Further reading

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

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French instinct, from Latin īnstinctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈstɪŋ(k)t/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧stinct
• Rhymes: -ɪŋkt

Noun

instinct n (plural instincten)

1. instinct (innate response, impulse or behaviour)

Derived terms

• instinctief
• instinctmatig
• moederinstinct
• vaderinstinct

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnstinctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tɛ̃/

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

instinct m (plural instincts)

1. instinct
2. gut feeling

Related terms

• instinctif

Further reading

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

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Romanian

Etymology

From French instinct

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inˈstinkt/

Noun

instinct n (plural instincte)

1. instinct

Declension

Declension of instinct

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) instinct	instinctul	(niște) instincte	instinctele
genitive/dative	(unui) instinct	instinctului	(unor) instincte	instinctelor
vocative	instinctule		instinctelor

Related terms

• instinctiv