Knowledgeability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being highly knowledgeable and well-informed
2. The state of possessing deep understanding and broad learning
3. The characteristic of having thorough awareness and intellectual capability

Etymology: Knowledgeability is a straightforward construction: "knowledgeable" plus the suffix "-ity," which turns an adjective into a noun naming a quality. "Knowledgeable" itself is built from "knowledge" and "-able," and it appeared in English in the 1600s, while "knowledge" dates to the 1300s, borrowed from Anglo-Norman "knowleche" with the Old English "cnawan" ("to know") at its root. The "-able" ending once meant "capable of being," so a knowledgeable person was originally one who could be known or was able to know; the sense of "well-informed" developed later. Adding "-ity" to an adjective ending in "-able" is a common pattern, and many such nouns (like "capability" or "availability") appeared in English from the 1500s onward. "Knowledgeability" is a comparatively late and less common formation, first recorded in the 1800s, and it is usually found in discussions of expertise or competence in a particular field.

Synonyms: intelligence, awareness, understanding, insight, expertise

Antonyms: ignorance, inexperience, naivety, unawareness, stupidity