prodigy

English

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

prodigy (plural prodigies)

(now rare) An extraordinary thing seen as an omen; a portent. [from 15th c.]
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 87:
  John Foxe believed that special prodigies had heralded the Reformation.
- 1715, Homer, Iliad, translated by Alexander Pope, Book XII:
  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.
An extraordinary occurrence or creature; an anomaly, especially a monster; a freak. [from 16th c.]
An amazing or marvellous thing; a wonder. [from 17th c.]
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 153:
  He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him.
A wonderful example of something. [from 17th c.]
An extremely talented person, especially a child. [from 17th c.]

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

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁eǵ-‎ (0 c, 9 e)

something from which omens are drawn

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
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

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 (vundɛrkínd) (of a child), ге́ний (ru) m (génij)
Spanish: prodigio (es) m, fenómeno (es), genio (es), niño prodigio
Swedish: underbarn (sv) n
Turkish: dâhi çocuk