einstein
/ˈaɪnˌstaɪn/ noun, proper noun
Forms einsteins
- noun (photochemistry, dated) One mole of photons, regardless of frequency, as used to measure irradiance. “The einstein (symbol E) is an obsolete unit with two conflicting definitions.”
- noun (informal) A genius; a very smart person. “He's a prodigy — they call him their little einstein.”
- noun (by extension, informal, sarcastic) An idiot; a very stupid person. “Yeah, that guy is a real einstein — he always finds a way to mess up the simplest order.”
- noun (mathematics, physics) A shape that can be repeated to cover a plane with a nonrepeating pattern.
- proper noun Albert Einstein, the world-famous 20th-century theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity.
- proper noun A surname from German.
- noun (sometimes sarcastic) An extremely clever or intelligent person. “Can you believe he's just a kindergartener? It looks like they've got an Einstein in the family.”
Synonyms
boffin brain brainiac bright spark egghead geek nerd Poindexter propeller head shrewd article smart cookie supernerd whiz addle-brain addlehead addle pate airhead baboon beanbrain beetlebrain Albert Einstein genius mastermind
Etymology
Named in honor of Albert Einstein, who explained the photoelectric effect.
From German ein Stein, "one stone", coined by scientists in recent decades, but with tongue-in-cheek tacit acknowledgment of the homonymy with einstein and Einstein; "a pun playing with the famous scientist's name and the German term "ein Stein" for "one stone".
* The common noun is an eponym of Albert Einstein.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “einstein”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details