brainiac

English

Etymology

Blend of brain +‎ maniac, with influence from ENIAC, the name of an early computer. The term was coined in the Superman comic book and first appeared in Action Comics #242 in July, 1958.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪniæk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪniæk

Noun

brainiac (plural brainiacs)

1. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A very intelligent and usually studious, erudite person.

   Synonyms: genius, pedant, smart-ass, wiseguy

   Antonyms: dufus, dumb-ass, dumbo, idiot, ignoramus

   • 2009 July 18, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     With all the brainiacs in the world ... you'd think somebody would come up with a sunblock for ice cream.

   • 2019 February 8, Margaret Wertheim, “Minds that explore the beauty of math and the logic of art”, in Washington Post‎^[1], →ISSN:

     With nearly 900,000 Twitter followers, Popova is a member of a rare pantheon of “influencers” for the brainiac crowd. Miraculously, she makes a living writing a blog about science, literature, philosophy, feminism and whatever else takes her voracious and generous fancy.

Translations

a very intelligent and usually studious, erudite person

• Finnish: nero (fi)
• French: grosse tête (fr) f
• German: Intelligenzbestie (de) f
• Italian: cervellone (it) m
• Polish: mózgowiec m
• Spanish: cerebrito, pitagorín (Spain)

Anagrams

• Cabirian, cibarian