Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INGENUOUS

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

connect today's word to others: If you're open and honest in a childlike way, you're ingenuous. And if you're open and honest in public life, you're ab___b___rd. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "INGENUOUS" Inside this word, you can see how its Latin roots literally mean "born in (a place)." (The in part means "in," and the gen part means "born.") Originally, "ingenuous" meant "native-born" or "freeborn," and at some point in Roman history, ingenuous people formed a privileged class. Because those people were nobles, the word "ingenuous" came to mean "noble, high-minded," and from there, it came to mean "honorable, honest, and open." So that's one of the meanings we often use today: ingenuous people and things are open, honest, and honorable. And, because there's a fine line between being open in a straightforward way and being open in a naive, wide-eyed, innocent, childlike way, another meaning of "ingenuous" that we use today is this: "open and honest in an innocent, childlike way." Pronunciation: in JEN you us Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "an ingenuous thing" or "an ingenuous person." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was ingenuous" or "He was ingenuous.") But it looks so much like "ingenious." How do we avoid mixing them up? Yeah, that's a pesky problem. First, let's embrace the bizarre difficulty of these words by noticing how, and why, their Latin roots are identical. The same roots meaning "born in" make up both words: 1. "ingenuous," literally meaning "born in (a place);" and 2. "ingenious," literally meaning "born in (a person)." Then, let's pick some mnemonic device to remind ourselves that "ingenuous" has the extra "u" while "ingenious" has the extra "i." I suggest this: When you give an ingenuous person a compliment, she bats her eyelashes and says "Oh, u!" But when you talk to someone ingenious, she keeps on boasting about herself, saying "I did this, I can do that." Other forms: The adverb is "ingenuously," and for the noun, pick "ingenuity" or "ingenuousness." Here's something wacky we should note about the noun "ingenuity." It can mean "the quality of being ingenuous," but it can also mean "the quality of being ingenious--that is, smart, clever, or skillful." To me, that problem suggests we should stick with the word "ingenuousness" instead of "ingenuity." Also, notice that the opposite of "ingenuous" is "disingenuous" (not "genuous"), and it means "sneaky, secretive, or not sincere." The other forms are "disingenuously" and "disingenuity/disingenuousness."  How to use it: Talk about ingenuous people and their ingenuous eyes, smiles, expressions, comments, confessions, responses, etc. Or, talk about someone's (or something's) ingenuous joy, faith, trust, interest, sweetness, passion, enthusiasm, good humor, etc. You can also say someone or something has an ingenuous style, appeal, or charm. examples: Asked to write about their summers, their vacations, even their weekends, young children focus on no particular event and instead produce these long, plodding, ingenuous accounts of everything they ate and did. And when they had to go to bed. It's adorable. "Bryant may not be Shakespeare. But for all the inelegant lines and ingenuous sentiments in his poem, poets were intrigued and charmed that Bryant, one of the world’s most famous athletes, would choose the form."    —Andrew Keh, The New York Times, 2 December 2015 study it now: Look away from the screen to define "ingenuous" without saying "hiding nothing" or "artless." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "It strikes me as disingenuous (when or that) (someone) (does something)." Example 1: "It strikes me as disingenuous when stores advertise a low price, then immediately run out of stock." Example 2: "It took three weeks and ten phone calls to get a service appointment scheduled, so it strikes me as disingenuous that they call themselves Priority One." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Apt Adjective Anagrams!  I'll invent a person's name and a brief description of that person, and you unscramble the letters in the name to form an adjective that aptly describes the person or the person's situation. For example, if I say "Naomi Cirous is still holding a grudge," then you rearrange the letters in "Naomi Cirous" to form the adjective "acrimonious," meaning "sharp, bitter, and mean"--an appropriate adjective for someone holding a grudge. From the previous issue: When she tells anecdotes or describes problems, Cybil Hoper always exaggerates. Answer: The way she talks is hyperbolic. Try this today: Rose Tice is a physicist whose research is understood by hardly anyone. review today's word: 1. The exact opposite of INGENUOUS is DISINGENUOUS. But, a close opposite of INGENUOUS is A. CAGEY. B. CAPACIOUS. C. CHICHI. 2. He said, "_____." I wasn't expecting him to respond so ingenuously. A. Oh yeah? Try and prove it B. Yes, ma'am, I did break that C. Well, um, well, um, um, I dunno Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B