Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

brainiac

/ˈbɹeɪniæk/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.57 in modern English

Syllables: braini-ac
IPA: /ˈbɹeɪniæk/

12

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A very intelligent and usually studious, erudite person.

Derogatory; Slang

Example Sentences

"With all the brainiacs in the world ... you'd think somebody would come up with a sunblock for ice cream."
"With nearly 900,000 Twitter followers, Popova is a member of a rare pantheon of “influencers” for the brainiac crowd. Miraculously, she makes a living writing a blog about science, literature, philosophy, feminism and whatever else takes her voracious and generous fancy."

Etymology

Blend of brain + maniac, with influence from ENIAC, the name of an early computer. The term was coined as the name of the fictional supervillain Brainiac in the Superman series and first appeared in Action Comics comic book #242 in July, 1958. By surface analysis, brainy + -ac.

Usage

Inflected Forms

brainiacs (plural)

Synonyms

genius pedant smart-ass wiseguy mastermind brain einstein wonder

Antonyms

dufus dumb-ass dumbo idiot ignoramus

Rhymes With

maniac nymphomaniac megalomaniac egomaniac pyromaniac kleptomaniac dipsomaniac monomaniac logomaniac bibliomaniac anthomaniac theomaniac

Questions

How do you pronounce brainiac?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈbɹeɪniæk/.
What does brainiac mean?: A very intelligent and usually studious, erudite person.
Where does brainiac come from?: Blend of brain + maniac, with influence from ENIAC, the name of an early computer. The term was coined as the name of the fictional supervillain Brainiac in the Superman series and first appeared in Action Comics comic book #242 in July, 1958. By surface analysis, brainy + -ac.

How to pronounce brainiac

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “brainiac”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈbɹeɪniæk/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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