Word of the Week for the week of September 25, 2016
Genius
[JEEN-yus]
Meaning & Usage
noun a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially: a person with a very high IQ.
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius at designing technology, everything from warfare to waterways for his patrons, the de' Medicis in Florence and the Duke di Sforza in Milan.
Origin
Coming from the Latin word gignere, meaning "to come into being" from the ancient Roman belief system that "spirits" protected (or gave rise to) a person’s moral character. First borrowed into English in the early sixteenth century meaning "an identifying character." Eventually, the meaning expanded to cover a special ability for doing something, especially referring to intelligence.
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