invent

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English inventen, borrowed from Old French inventer, from Latin inventus, perfect passive participle of inveniō (“come upon, meet with, find, discover”), from in (“in, on”) + veniō (“come”); see venture. Compare advent, covent, event, prevent, etc.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛnt/
Audio (GA) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛnt

VerbEdit

invent (third-person singular simple present invents, present participle inventing, simple past and past participle invented)

To design a new process or mechanism.
After weeks of hard work, I invented a new way to alphabetize matchbooks.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:
  Accurſt be he that firſt inuented war
To create something fictional for a particular purpose.
I knew I had to invent an excuse, and quickly.

We need a name to put in this form, so let's just invent one.

Synonym: make up
(obsolete) To come upon; to find; to discover.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 1, canto 4:
  Far off he wonders, what them makes so glad, / If Bacchus merry fruit they did inuent [...].

SynonymsEdit

fangle

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

design a new process or mechanism

Afrikaans: uitvind (af)
Arabic: اِخْتَرَعَ‎ (iḵtaraʿa)
Armenian: հնարել (hy) (hnarel)
Belarusian: вынахо́дзіць impf (vynaxódzicʹ), вы́найсці pf (výnajsci)
Bulgarian: изобретя́вам (bg) impf (izobretjávam)
Catalan: inventar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 發明 (zh), 发明 (zh) (fāmíng)
Cornish: devisya
Czech: vynalézt
Dutch: uitvinden (nl), uitdenken (nl)
Esperanto: inventi
Faroese: finna upp, hugsa upp
Finnish: keksiä (fi)
French: inventer (fr)
Galician: inventar (gl)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: erfinden (de)
Greek: εφευρίσκω (el) (efevrísko)
Hungarian: feltalál (hu)
Icelandic: finna upp
Italian: inventare (it)
Japanese: 発明する (はつめいする, hatsumei-suru)

Khmer: please add this translation if you can
Korean: 발명하다 (ko) (balmyeong-hada)
Latin: inveniō (la), reperiō
Macedonian: пронаоѓа (pronaoǵa), изумува (izumuva), измислува (izmisluva)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian: oppfinne
Old English: āþenċan
Polish: wynaleźć (pl)
Portuguese: inventar (pt)
Romanian: scorni (ro), născoci (ro), inventa (ro)
Russian: изобрета́ть (ru) impf (izobretátʹ), изобрести́ (ru) pf (izobrestí), создава́ть (ru) impf (sozdavátʹ), созда́ть (ru) pf (sozdátʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: изумети pf, изумјети pf

Roman: izumeti (sh) pf, izumjeti (sh) pf
Slovak: vynájsť pf
Slovene: izumljati impf, izumiti pf
Spanish: inventar (es)
Swedish: uppfinna (sv)
Thai: คิดค้น (th) (kít-kón)
Turkish: icat etmek (tr)
Ukrainian: винахо́дити impf (vynaxódyty), ви́найти pf (výnajty)
Vietnamese: phát minh (vi)
Volapük: datuvön (vo)

create something fictional

Azerbaijani: uydurmaq (az), quraşdırmaq (az)
Bulgarian: измислям (bg) (izmisljam)
Catalan: inventar (ca)
Dutch: uitdenken (nl), uitvinden (nl), bedenken (nl), verzinnen (nl)
Finnish: keksiä (fi)
French: inventer (fr)
German: ausdenken (de), erfinden (de)
Hungarian: kitalál (hu)

Italian: creare (it), ideare (it)
Macedonian: измислува (izmisluva)
Ngazidja Comorian: utrunga
Old English: āþenċan
Russian: выду́мывать (ru) impf (vydúmyvatʹ), вы́думать (ru) pf (výdumatʹ), сочиня́ть (ru) impf (sočinjátʹ), сочини́ть (ru) pf (sočinítʹ), измышля́ть (ru) impf (izmyšljátʹ), измы́слить (ru) pf (izmýslitʹ), приду́мывать (ru) impf (pridúmyvatʹ), приду́мать (ru) pf (pridúmatʹ)
Spanish: inventar (es)
Turkish: yaratmak (tr), uydurmak (tr) (informal, usually pejorative)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked