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Word Origins

I am trying to find the correct spelling and origin of the word relating to mental faculties or good judgement. It is pronounced as 'nouse' (rhyming with 'mouse').

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The word you are looking for is nous. It appears in our dictionaries of current English, such as the New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998), where it is labelled 'British informal' and defined 'common sense; practical intelligence'. In philosophy, it means 'the mind or intellect'.

It represents a straightforward taking into English of Greek nous or noos 'mind, intellect'. The philosophical sense dates back to the 17th century, and the slang sense to the 18th, according to the complete Oxford English Dictionary.

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