Intellectual

How to spell intellectual

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce intellectual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intellectual mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the mind, reasoning, or the capacity for abstract thought.
2. nounA person who engages in serious study and reflection, especially on academic or cultural matters.

Intellectual in a sentence

• adjective

  The debate demanded a great deal of intellectual effort from everyone present.

• noun

  As a respected intellectual, she was often invited to comment on policy.

• adjective

  Her work offers genuine intellectual challenge rather than easy entertainment.

• noun

  The cafe was a favourite haunt of every local intellectual and writer.

Where does intellectual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin intellectualis, meaning 'relating to the understanding', which was built on intellectus, 'perception' or 'understanding'. That noun in turn came from the verb intellegere, 'to perceive' or 'to grasp', formed from inter, meaning 'between', and legere, 'to choose' or 'to read'; so to understand something was literally to 'choose between' or 'read between' the options. English took the word in through Old French during the late 1300s, first as an adjective describing matters of the mind. The same legere root sits inside familiar words such as 'lecture', 'collect', and 'elect', all of which involve choosing or gathering. The spelling trap is the double l in the middle and the unstressed -tu- before -al, which together make writers hesitate over how many letters belong where.

How the word is built

• intel- (from inter-: between)
• lect (from legere: to choose/read)
• -ual (adjective/noun suffix)