Intelligence

How to spell intelligence

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce intelligence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intelligence mean?

1. nounThe capacity to learn, reason, understand, and apply knowledge.
2. nounInformation gathered about an enemy, rival, or threat, often by a government agency.

Intelligence in a sentence

• The test was designed to measure verbal and spatial intelligence.

• The agency shared intelligence about the planned attack with its allies.

• Her quick intelligence made the interview panel take notice.

• Military intelligence confirmed that troops were massing near the border.

Where does intelligence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin intelligentia, meaning 'understanding' or 'the power of discernment', a noun built on the verb intelligere, 'to perceive or comprehend'. That verb combines inter, meaning 'between', with legere, 'to choose, gather, or read', so the literal idea is one of choosing between or picking out distinctions, the very mental act of telling things apart. English took the word in through Old French during the 1300s, when it referred to the faculty of grasping truth. The narrower modern sense of secret information gathered about an enemy or rival grew much later, becoming firmly established in military and government use by the twentieth century. The same legere root sits inside relatives such as 'lecture', 'legible', and 'elegant', and the buried 'g' before the 'ence' ending is the spot where writers most often stumble.

How the word is built

• intel- (between)
• leg (to choose, gather, read)
• -ence (noun suffix)