Wunderkind

//ˈvʊn.də.kɪnd// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A child prodigy; a wonderchild.
  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of wunderkind. alt-of
  3. 3
    A highly talented or gifted individual, especially one who is successful at a young age.

    "Harriet Pappenheim, a psychotherapist at Park Avenue Relationship Consultants who wrote “For Richer or Poorer,” a 2006 book on money in marriage, said that the repercussions could be acute for Wall Street wunderkinds who define their identities through their job titles and the size of their bonuses."

Synonyms

All synonyms
boy wonderbrainbrain surgeonbrainboxbrainiacchild genius

Example

More examples

"Ms. Yen is a tech wunderkind who had already launched and sold three companies by the age of 22."

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Wunderkind, from Wunder (“wonder”) + Kind (“child”). Compare native wonderchild.

Related phrases

child prodigy

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