Short and Sweet: Ingenious Vocabulary for National Inventors Day: February 11

You’ve probably heard this term used to describe the plans for something. Folks come up with blueprints for better health, less pollution, career advancement, and football games. But the original meaning, first found in the mid-1800s, was far more literal: "a photographic print composed of white lines on a blue background, used chiefly in copying plans, machine drawings, etc.” From there, the term spread to any technical drawings, and then any plans, by the early 1900s.

A concept is an idea, so inventors tend to be pretty strong conceptual thinkers. The adjective version of this word often turns up in the art world. Paintings or sculptures that are realistic are representational, but art that’s more about an idea — like Duchamp’s famous “Fountain,” which is just a regular urinal plopped into a museum — are called conceptual. For conceptual art, it’s all about the idea.

An invention starts with an idea, and here’s a fancy word for the process of coming up with ideas: ideation. Inventors are whizzes at ideating. When you think of ideating, imagine a light bulb flashing over your head. Ideation is close to inspiration. Inspiration might make a poet write a sestina, but it makes an inventor come up with an app that figures out where missing socks go (patent pending).

If you look at this word closely, you’ll see a little genius, and that’s appropriate. Ingenuity is the quality of being ingenious. The ingenious have a level of creativity and insight most of us poor slobs will never achieve. The truly ingenious would include folks like Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs. Of course, like most words, this one is often used loosely, since the only thing people like more than pizza is exaggeration.

This is a word heard often in the tech world of apps, clouds, bundles, plug-ins, and other gizmos, and why not? An innovation is the development of something new, and new is necessary in the race to create the best phone, laptop, TV, or (come on, guys) jetpack. This word has been found in English since the 1500s and has the verb form innovate. Innovating is a giant part of what inventors do. The Latin roots of this term link it to some other words for new things, like novel and novelty.

“Necessity is the mother of invention” means “People tend to invent things that are needed.” Necessity is a synonym for need. Food and shelter are necessities for life. Powerful rockets were a necessity for the moon landing. For a fish, water is a necessity. Just because you want something badly doesn’t make it a necessity. An everything bagel with garlic cream cheese may feel like a necessity, but it’s really just a great idea.

This is different from the noun meaning a book of fiction. As an adjective, novel means new, fresh, innovative, unprecedented. A novel idea is the opposite of a tired, old-timey idea: a novel turn of phrase is the opposite of a cliché. Inventors chase the novel.

Since the 1500s, patent has held the current meaning: a license that gives you ownership over a certain thingamajig. Inventors strive to get their products patented, just in case someone else out there has a similar idea, which has often happened: great minds really do tend to think alike. People also use this word loosely for anything a person is known for, like a football player’s patented touchdown dance.