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.
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 Queene, I.vi:
  Far off he wonders, what them makes so glad, / If Bacchus merry fruit they did inuent [...].

SynonymsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

design a new process or mechanism

Afrikaans: uitvind (af)
Arabic: اِخْتَرَعَ‎ (iḵtaraʿa)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: вынахо́дзіць impf (vynaxódzicʹ), вы́найсці pf (výnajsci)
Bulgarian: изобретя́вам (bg) impf (izobretjávam)
Catalan: inventar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 發明 (zh), 发明 (zh) (fāmíng)
Czech: vynalézt
Dutch: uitvinden (nl), uitdenken (nl)
Esperanto: inventi
Faroese: finna upp, hugsa upp
Finnish: keksiä (fi)
French: inventer (fr)
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: āhyċġan
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)
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)
Macedonian: измислува (izmisluva)
Ngazidja Comorian: utrunga
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)

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