intellect

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin intellēctus (“understanding, intellect”), perfect passive participle of Latin intellegō (“understand; reason”), from inter (“between, among”) + legō (“read”), with connotation of bind.

noun

1. (uncountable) The faculty of thinking, judging, abstract reasoning, and conceptual understanding; the cognitive faculty.
   Intellect is one of man's greatest powers.
2. (uncountable) The capacity of that faculty (in a particular person).
   They were chosen because of their outstanding intellect.
   Arms of stripes and shirts of checks / You had a very nice intellect 1983, “Intelligence”, in Shiver, performed by Virna Lindt
3. A person who has that faculty to a great degree.
   Some of the world's leading intellects were meeting there.