different between prodigy vs phenomenon

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??d?d?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??d?d?i/
• Hyphenation: prod?i?gy

Noun

prodigy (plural prodigies)

1. (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.
2. An extraordinary occurrence or creature; an anomaly, especially a monster; a freak. [from 16th c.]
3. An amazing or marvellous thing; a wonder. [from 17th c.]
4. A wonderful example of something. [from 17th c.]
5. An extremely talented person, especially a child. [from 17th c.]

Synonyms

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

Related terms

Translations

See also

• precocious
• prodigal
• child prodigy
• prodigy house

Further reading

• prodigy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• prodigy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• prodigy at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Alternative forms

• phaenomenon, phænomenon (archaic)
• phainomenon (archaic, academic, or technical)
• phœnomenon (hypercorrect, obsolete)

Etymology

From Late Latin phaenomenon (“appearance”), from Ancient Greek ?????????? (phainómenon, “thing appearing to view”), neuter present middle participle of ????? (phaín?, “I show”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /f??n?m?n?n/, /f??n?m?n?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /f??n?m?n?n/, /f??n?m?n?n/

Noun

phenomenon (plural phenomena or (nonstandard) phenomenons or phenomenon)

1. A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
   • 1900, Andrew Lang, The Making of Religion, ch. 1:

     The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.

   • 2007, "Ask the Experts: Hurricanes," USA Today, 7 Nov. (retrieved 16 Jan. 2009):

     Hurricanes are a meteorological phenomenon.

2. (by extension) A knowable thing or event (eg by inference, especially in science)

3. A kind or type of phenomenon (sense 1 or 2)

4. Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
   • 1662, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, First Day:

     I verily believe that in the Moon there are no rains, for if Clouds should gather in any part thereof, as they do about the Earth, they would thereupon hide from our sight some of those things, which we with the Telescope behold in the Moon, and in a word, would some way or other change its Phœnomenon.

5. A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
   • 1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary—Volume I, ch. 18:

     The phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. . . . He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder.

6. A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 23:

     "This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles."

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, "The Phantom Rickshaw":

     But, all the same, you're a phenomenon, and as queer a phenomenon as you are a blackguard.

7. (philosophy, chiefly Kantian idealism) An experienced object whose constitution reflects the order and conceptual structure imposed upon it by the human mind (especially by the powers of perception and understanding).
   • 1900, S. Tolver Preston, "Comparison of Some Views of Spencer and Kant," Mind, vol. 9, no. 34, p. 234:

     Every "phenomenon" must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.

   • 1912, Roy Wood Sellars, "Is There a Cognitive Relation?" The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 232:

     The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.

Usage notes

• The universal, common, modern spelling of this term is phenomenon. Of the alternative forms listed above, phaenomenon, phænomenon, and phainomenon are etymologically consistent, retaining the ?? diphthong from its Ancient Greek etymon ?????????? (phainómenon); in the case of the first two, it is in the Romanised form of the Latin ae diphthong, whereas in the latter it is a direct transcription of the original Ancient Greek. The form spelt with œ has no etymological basis. All those alternative forms are pronounced identically with phenomenon and are archaic, except for phainomenon, which sees some technical use in academia and is pronounced with an initial f? ([fa?],).
• By far the most common and universally accepted plural form is the classical phenomena; the Anglicised phenomenons is also sometimes used. The plural form phenomena is frequently used in the singular, and the singular form is sometimes used in the plural. Arising from this nonstandard use, the double plurals phenomenas and phenomenae, as well as a form employing the greengrocer’s apostrophe — phenomena’s — are also seen.

Synonyms

• (observable fact or occurrence): event
• (unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event): marvel, miracle, oddity, wonder, legend
• (wonderful person or thing): marvel, miracle, phenom, prodigy, wonder, legend

Antonyms

• (philosophy: experienced object structured by the mind): noumenon, thing-in-itself

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• phenomenon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• phenomenon in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.