ingenious

English

Alternative forms

engenious (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ingénieux, from Old French engenious, from Latin ingeniōsus (“endowed with good natural capacity, gifted with genius”), from ingenium (“innate or natural quality, natural capacity, genius”), from in- (“in”) +‎ gignere (“to produce”), Old Latin genere. See also engine.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/, /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːniəs/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -iːniəs
Hyphenation: in‧ge‧nious

Adjective

ingenious (comparative more ingenious, superlative most ingenious)

Of a person: Displaying genius or brilliance; inventive.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intelligent
This fellow is ingenious; he fixed a problem I didn’t even know I had.
Of a thing: characterized by genius; cleverly contrived or done.
Synonym: artful
That is an ingenious model of the atom.
Showing originality or sagacity; witty.
Synonyms: adroit, keen, sagacious, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:witty
He sent me an ingenious reply to an email.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 147:
  I have scarcely recovered the surprise of the ingenious question, before I meet another surprise in the still more ingenious answer

Usage notes

Not to be confused with ingenuous.

Related terms

engine
engineer
genius
ingeniosity
ingeniousness

Translations

displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent

Arabic: عَبْقَرِيّ‎ (ʿabqariyy)
Bulgarian: изобретателен (bg) (izobretatelen), находчив (bg) (nahodčiv)
Catalan: enginyós (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 有发明才能的
Danish: opfindsomt
Dutch: ingenieus (nl)
Finnish: nerokas (fi)
French: ingénieux (fr)
German: ingeniös (de), genial (de)
Greek: εφευρετικός (el) m (efevretikós)
Ancient: εὑρετικός (heuretikós), εὐπάλαμος (eupálamos), φρενοτέκτων (phrenotéktōn)
Hungarian: találékony (hu)
Italian: ingegnoso (it)
Polish: pomysłowy (pl) m
Portuguese: engenhoso (pt)
Romanian: cu iscusință, iscusit (ro), ingenios (ro)
Russian: изобрета́тельный (ru) (izobretátelʹnyj), нахо́дчивый (ru) (naxódčivyj)
Sanskrit: चतुर (sa) (catura)
Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma
Sicilian: strummintusu m
Spanish: ingenioso (es)
Swedish: finurlig (sv)
Turkish: yaratıcı (tr)

characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived

Arabic: عَبْقَرِيّ‎ (ʿabqariyy)
Bulgarian: изкусен (bg) (izkusen)
Catalan: enginyós (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 巧妙 (haau² miu⁶)
Mandarin: 聪明的, 巧妙 (zh) (qiǎomiào)
Min Nan: 巧妙 (khá-biāu)
Czech: geniální (cs)
Danish: opfindsomt
Esperanto: genia
Finnish: nerokas (fi)
French: ingénieux (fr)
Greek: μεγαλοφυής (el) m (megalofyís)
Ancient Greek: εὐπάλαμος (eupálamos)
Polish: pomysłowy (pl) m
Portuguese: engenhoso (pt)
Romanian: genial (ro)
Russian: хитроу́мный (ru) (xitroúmnyj), оригина́льный (ru) (originálʹnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma
Sicilian: strummintusu m
Spanish: ingenioso (es)
Swedish: finurlig (sv)

witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious

Bulgarian: остроумен (bg) (ostroumen)
Catalan: enginyós (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 热情的, 独创的
Dutch: vernuftig (nl)
Finnish: terävä (fi), nokkela (fi)
German: findig (de)
Greek: πολυμήχανος (el) m (polymíchanos), δαιμόνιος (el) m (daimónios)
Hungarian: leleményes (hu)
Russian: остроумный (ru) (ostroumnyj), оригинальный (ru) (originalʹnyj), затейливый (ru) (zatejlivyj), замысловатый (ru) (zamyslovatyj)
Sanskrit: चतुर (sa) (catura)
Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma
Spanish: ingenioso (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} eadar-ghnàthach

References

ingenious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
ingenious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911