天才
Meaning in Englisha genius
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Word context
What it means
What does 天才 (tensai) mean? It means "genius": a term for someone who demonstrates exceptionally high skill, creativity, or intellectual ability compared to typical levels in a given field.
Main meanings
- Used for child prodigies or wunderkinds, emphasizing obvious early achievement rather than long training.
- Colloquial hyperbole to praise someone very skilled at a specific task (a casual compliment).
- Sarcastic or ironic usage to mock a clever-but-faulty idea or action.
- Stylistic label in media, advertising, and titles to imply standout talent or unique capability.
How to use it
Common across spoken and written Japanese, it appears in casual compliments, formal praise (awards, academic descriptions), headlines, and product names; tone depends on context—neutral to admiring in formal writing, affectionate in everyday speech, or biting when used sarcastically—and it's often applied to a person's domain-specific skill rather than as a clinical label.
Variants and close terms
- 才能 (sainō) — talent, ability
- 天賦の才 (tenpu no sai) — giftedness (literary)
- 天才児 (tensaiji) — prodigy child
- 平凡 (heibon) — ordinary (antonym)
Composition
- 天 (ten): heaven, sky — connotes something above or bestowed.
- 才 (sai): talent, ability, skill.
Origin
The compound comes from Sino-Japanese vocabulary with roots in classical Chinese; the modern Japanese sense became widespread alongside Meiji-era intellectual exchange when Western concepts of individual genius entered public discourse, and it has since been reinforced by education, literature, and popular culture.
Word class
noun (名詞)