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“prodigies”
1. A person who has, or those who have, exceptional talents or powers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a prodigy who could read, play, and improvise music when he was just five years old.
3. An unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration: Tom was a prodigy who started playing the piano when he was six years old and then he became well-known as a soloist at the age of fifteen and as a teacher of other aspiring young people.
4. A portentous sign or event; an omen; a sign of something about to happen: The arctic cold was a prodigy that moved down through Canada, and some sections of the United States, bringing very low temperatures and heavy snows that were not normal so early in November.
5. Etymology: a "sign, portent, something extraordinary from which omens are drawn", from Latin prodigium, "sign, omen, portent, prodigy" from pro-, "forth" + -igium, a suffix or word of unknown origin.
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Karen, a math prodigy, surprised her teacher and fellow students when she easily solved a complicated numerical problem which was presented to the class.
2. An act or event so extraordinary or rare as to inspire wonder: Gertrude told her parents about a fourteen-year old boy who is a mathematics prodigy and is attending her university.3. An unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration: Tom was a prodigy who started playing the piano when he was six years old and then he became well-known as a soloist at the age of fifteen and as a teacher of other aspiring young people.
4. A portentous sign or event; an omen; a sign of something about to happen: The arctic cold was a prodigy that moved down through Canada, and some sections of the United States, bringing very low temperatures and heavy snows that were not normal so early in November.
5. Etymology: a "sign, portent, something extraordinary from which omens are drawn", from Latin prodigium, "sign, omen, portent, prodigy" from pro-, "forth" + -igium, a suffix or word of unknown origin.
The Roman word prodigium was used to indicate an incident or an extraordinary nature that was recognized as a prophetic sign, whether good or bad, by the entire nation.
Then it was adopted into English as prodigy, which at first had the same meaning as the Roman term; that is, as a sign of prophesy. Later it was applied to an extraordinary person or animal, one with great intelligence or talent, and then it evolved into a reference to a child who possessed these qualities.
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A prodigy is the child who plays the piano late at night when he ought to be in bed.
Word Entries at Get Words:
“prodigies”
An unusually gifted or intelligent child or adult; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration. (1)
This entry is located in the following unit:
Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words
(page 65)