Difference Between Ingenious and Ingenuous
Main Difference
The main difference between Ingenious and Ingenuous is that the word Ingenious pertains to something new, imaginative, creative, and inventive, whereas the word Ingenuous pertains to something guiltless, innocent, clear-handed, simple, and artless.
Ingenious vs. Ingenuous
Ingenious is an adjective and comes under the meaning of contriving; on the other hand, ingenuous is also an adjective and comes under the meaning of candidness. Ingenious is considered as the characteristics of genius, while ingenuous is considered as a characteristic of a native having childlike qualities.
Ingenious is related to the word genius, which carries the meaning of imagination, intelligence, and something original; on the flip side, ingenuous is related to the word genuine, which carries the meaning of something more authentic.
Ingenious, regarding its pronunciation, sounds more like the word genius because of extra stress in the second half of the word. On the contrary, ingenuous sounds like the word genuous, which is not a word but sounds more like ingenuous.
Ingenious is a combination of the word in and genius, while ingenuous is a combination of -in and -genuous. Ingenious is related to a high level of intelligence and extraordinary creative qualities; on the other hand, ingenuous is related to sincerity and innocence.
Furthermore, ingenious describes such a person having extraordinary qualities and cleverness of mind, whereas ingenuous describes such a person having childlike qualities innocence of mind. Ingenious holds the opposite as dis-ingenious. Ingenuous holds the opposite as disingenuous.
Ingenious is fairly common and considered as really smart ideas; on the flip side, ingenuous is taken as an honorable term. Ingenious is considered as a negative term, while ingenuous is considered as a purely positive term.
Comparison Chart
| Ingenious | Ingenuous |
| An adjective meaning new, imaginative, creative, and inventive, etc | An adjective meaning guiltless, innocent, clear-handed, simple, artless, etc |
| Origin | |
| From the Latin word ‘Ingenium.’ | From the Latin ‘Ingenuus.’ |
| Letters | |
| Differ in spelling with “I.” | Differ in spelling with “u.” |
| Synonyms | |
| Clever, original and inventive | Candid, frank and honorable |
| Sense | |
| Positive as well as negative | Positive |
What is Ingenious?
Ingenious is a characteristic of genius, which is a combination of the words in and genius. And when we see this grammatically, it seems to be a confusing term. As genius is a noun and the word ingenious acts as an adjective. It is considered an extraordinary quality of someone, which could be referred to as a high level of intelligence.
Ingenious is derived from the Latin word ‘Ingenium,’ which means talent. It comes under the meaning of ingenuity. It means intelligence, experienced thoughts, and incredibly smart. It means to come up with extraordinary qualities and intelligence. It means cleverness, creativity, and originality of thoughts. Originally it is taken as a more positive term. It is different from the word ingenuous in the orthographic terms but related in the semantic terms.
Ingenious is made from a prefix “in,” and the prefix “in” is not shown as negates words. A person is called ingenious when he\she can do extraordinary things which look not possible to do them easily.
Ingenious is not commonly used in writing at present; rather, people prefer the word genius instead of it. Ingenious differs with the other term ingenuous by a difference of single letter “I.” Ingenious is a word that relates to being clever. The antonyms for ingenious are ‘lack in common sense, low level of intelligence.’
Examples
- “What an ingenious design!”
- “William Shakespeare is ingenious.”
- “The painter’s work is display as an ingenious.”
What is Ingenuous?
Ingenuous refers to as authenticity, truthfulness, naturalness, and sincerity. It comes under the meaning of candid, frank, and free from the reserve. It is derived from the Latin word ‘ingenuus,’ which means freedom. Originally it was considered as a positive term, but now it is taken as in more negative form.
Ingenuous carry little difference with the variation in spelling by replacing “u” instead of “I” in the word ingenious. So, it is pronounced, spelled, and wrote differently. Ingenuous is the combination of “in” and “genuous.” The word genuous is itself not a word but has meanings when it is attached by the prefix “in.”
Ingenuous, as under a word ingenue, carries the meaning of female actresses. It could be the opposite of the word “genuine” reading to its phonic structure. It means to is differed childlike innocence. Nowadays, the word ingenuous also comes under the category of purely negative terms and refers to unsophisticated.
Ingenuous is mistakenly used instead of ingenious and pretend as unworldly knowledge. It can also act as an adjective, which means to be credulous, naive, and trusting. The word ingenuous gives the impression of being nice and honest. Its opposite is disingenuous, which gives the false impression of being honest, direct, and sincere.
Ingenuous comes under the category of unsophisticated manner and shows the significance of enabling one’s feelings. It was sometimes is taken as demonstrating childlike simplicity.
Examples
- John seemed too ingenuous to be called as a high flyer.
- The student gave more ingenuous answers to the teacher’s question and surprised the rest of the class.
- The principle decided to ask the ingenious class monitor to confirm the details of the event.
Key Differences
Conclusion
Ingenious and ingenuous are two different words that seemed almost alike but worked differently as an adjective. These two words have different meanings, usage, and function.
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