intelligentn.adj.adv.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French intelligent (noun) person well-versed in an art or skill (1420; the sense ‘intelligent person, intellectual’ is apparently not paralleled until later than in English: 1852 or earlier), (adjective) that understands or knows (a subject) (1420), having the faculty of understanding (1488), quick to understand (1611 in Cotgrave), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin intellegent-, intellegēns (in post-classical Latin also intelligent-, intelligens) endowed with intelligence, having keen understanding, discerning, use as adjective of present participle of intellegere (in post-classical Latin also intelligere ) to grasp mentally, understand, realize, to understand by inference, deduce, to supply mentally, to discern, recognize, to understand the value of, to appreciate, to understand the meaning of (words or languages) < inter- inter- prefix + legere to bring together, gather, pick out, choose, catch up, catch with the eye, read (see lection n.). Compare Catalan intel·ligent (15th cent.), Spanish inteligente (first half of the 15th cent.), Portuguese inteligente (16th cent.), Italian intelligente (end of the 13th cent.), all adjectives. Compare earlier intellective adj., intellectual adj., and (with the uses as noun) intelligence n., intelligencer n.The form intellegere prevails in classical Latin, as far as may be judged from inscriptions, and is the form recommended by the Latin grammarians.