Ingenu

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An innocent, unsophisticated, naive, wholesome boy or young man. rare

    "Even a casual reader of the philosophic tale will have met, in the array of types on parade-an oft-repeated "naïf" (who was anything but naive), at least one famed "candide," and several "ingénus.""

Synonyms

All synonyms
artlessbluffbluntborn yesterdaycandidchildlike

Example

More examples

"Even a casual reader of the philosophic tale will have met, in the array of types on parade-an oft-repeated "naïf" (who was anything but naive), at least one famed "candide," and several "ingénus.""

Etymology

Borrowed from French ingénu (“guileless”), especially as used by Voltaire in L'Ingénu, from Latin ingenuus (“ingenuous”). Doublet of ingenuous.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.