Clever

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈklɛv.ə/

Definitions

1. Intellectually sharp and resourceful, showcasing the ability to learn quickly or devise innovative solutions while effectively interpreting and manipulating ideas or plans
2. Demonstrating quick wit and intelligence, one is adept at grasping concepts or solving challenges in an inventive manner while engaging with various ideas or systems
3. Having the mental ability to understand, learn, or devise things easily and imaginatively

Etymology: The most striking thing about "clever" is that its original sense was grasping and clinging, not wit. Early English uses drew on a dialect word, cliver, meaning "expert at seizing," which in Middle English carried the sense of being tenacious. The likely ancestor is an Old English word meaning "clinging," and the same root gave the sense of a claw or hand, so the earliest picture is of something that holds fast. The meaning then drifted from physical grip toward skill. Being "ready" or "skillful" with one's hands, and later with one's mind, is a short step from seizing things adeptly, and that is roughly where the adjective we use today took shape. Some scholars also connect it to Low German and Dutch words for "cleave" or "stick," which share that clinging idea. The word's link to "cleave" is worth noticing. That verb can mean both to split apart and to hold fast, a double sense that sits oddly with the modern meaning of quick-witted cleverness, yet both trace back to the same ancient idea of gripping.

Synonyms: smart, intelligent, bright

Antonyms: dull, stupid