Nous Means Common Sense in Britain and Mind in Greece
Nous is practical intelligence. Philosophers borrowed the Greek word first.
Nous is British informal for common sense or practical intelligence, as in *he has plenty of nous*. The word arrived twice. Philosophers took Greek *nous*, mind or intellect, as a technical term for the faculty that grasps first principles; then eighteenth-century English slang pulled it down to earth as plain shrewdness. The academic sense and the pub sense are the same word two centuries apart. In British speech it usually rhymes with *house*, not with *loose*.
- Common sense. *He has nous.*
- Mind or intellect. *The nous.*
- Shrewdness. *Business nous.*
- Noetic — of the mind. *Noetic.*
- Greek — *nous*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | nous | Nous. |
| Adjective | noetic | Noetic. |
| Greek | nous | Mind. |
| Greek | noein | To think. |
| Related | paranoia | Paranoia. |
- She had the nous to check.Sense.
- Nous is mind in Greek.Philosophy.
- It rhymes with house.Pronunciation.
Greek words for thinking
- Nous — mind or intellect
- Logos — reason, word, account
- Sophia — wisdom, as in philosophy
- Gnosis — knowledge, especially of a hidden kind
- Paranoia — literally beside the mind
Greek *nous*, mind or intellect, adopted in philosophy in the 1600s and in slang by the 1700s.
How is nous pronounced?
In British usage it normally rhymes with house, though the philosophical term is sometimes said to rhyme with loose.
Is nous formal or informal?
Both. It is a technical term in philosophy and an informal word for common sense in British English.