different between genius vs excellence

English

Etymology

From Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gign? (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin gen?, from the Proto-Indo-European root *?enh?-. Doublet of genio. See also genus.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?in.j?s/, /?d?i.ni.?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?i?.n??s/
• Rhymes: -i?ni?s

Noun

genius (plural geniuses or genii)

1. Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:genius

   Antonym: idiot

2. Extraordinary mental capacity.
3. Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.

4. (Roman mythology) The tutelary deity or spirit of a place or person.
   • 1715, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture

     We talk of genius still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity.

   Synonyms: tutelary deity; see also Thesaurus:spirit

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

genius (not comparable)

1. (informal) ingenious, brilliant, very clever, or original.

Translations

Further reading

• genius in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• genius in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "genius" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 143.

Anagrams

• Seguin

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• jenius

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gign? (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin gen?, from the Proto-Indo-European root *?enh?-. Doublet of enjin, insinyur, and zeni.

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): [?e?ni?s]
• (common) IPA^(key): [d?e?ni?s]
• Hyphenation: gé?ni?us

Adjective

genius

1. genius: ingenious, brilliant, very clever, or original.

Affixed terms

Further reading

• “genius” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?enh?- (“to beget”), perhaps through Old Latin gen? (“to beget, give birth; to produce, cause”). Comparisons with Aramaic ????? (ginnaya, “tutelary deity”), and with Arabic ????? (jinn, “jinn, spirit, demon”) and ??????? (jan?n, “embryo, germ”), suggest the effects of an older substrate word.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /??e.ni.us/, [???ni?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?d??e.ni.us/, [?d????nius]

Noun

genius m (genitive geni? or gen?); second declension

1. the deity or guardian spirit of a person, place, etc.; a daemon, a daimon (cf. Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n))
2. an inborn nature or innate character, especially (though not exclusively) as endowed by a personal (especially tutelar) spirit or deity.
3. (with respect to the enjoyment of life) the spirit of social enjoyment, fondness for good living, taste, appetite, inclinations
4. (of the intellect) wit, talents, genius (rare)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Quotations

• Catullus[,] Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris, 1921, page 328f. containing Albius Tibullus III, XI, 9f. = IV, V, 9f. with a translation into English by J. P. Postgate:

  magne Geni, cape tura libens votisque faveto,
  si modo, cum de me cogitat, ille calet.

  Great Genius, take this incense with a will, and smile upon my prayer, if only when he thinks on me his pulse beats high.

Descendants

References

• genius in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• genius in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• genius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• genius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• genius in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• genius in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• genius in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin genius.

Noun

genius m (definite singular geniusen, indefinite plural genier, definite plural geniene)

1. genius

References

• “genius” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin genius.

Noun

genius m (definite singular geniusen, indefinite plural geniusar, definite plural geniusane)

1. genius

References

• “genius” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Etymology

From Old French excellence, from Latin excellentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ks?l?ns/

Noun

excellence (usually uncountable, plural excellences)

1. The quality of being excellent; brilliance
2. Something in which one excels.
3. An excellent or valuable quality; something at which any someone excels; a virtue.

Synonyms

• superiority
• pre-eminence
• perfection
• worth
• goodness
• purity
• greatness

Translations

See also

• par excellence

References

• excellence at OneLook Dictionary Search
• excellence in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• excellence in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k.s?.l??s/

Noun

excellence f (plural excellences)

1. Excellence.
2. Excellency (term of address).

Derived terms

Further reading

• “excellence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).