From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English talent, from Old English talente, borrowed from the plural of Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”). Compare Old High German talenta (“talent”). Later figurative senses are from Old French talent (“talent, will, inclination, desire”), derived from the biblical Parable of the Talents.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtælənt/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈtalənt/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈʈalɛɳʈ/
• Rhymes: -ælənt
• Hyphenation: tal‧ent

talent (countable and uncountable, plural talents)

1. A marked natural ability or skill.

   Synonyms: endowment, gift

   • 1936 Feb. 15, Ernest Hemingway, letter to Maxwell Perkins:

     Feel awfully about Scott... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.

   He has a real talent for drawing.

2. (historical) A unit of weight and money used in ancient times in Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Middle East, equal to about 30 to 60 kg in various times and places.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew XXV:14-15:

     For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

3. (obsolete) A desire or inclination for something. [until 16th c.]
4. (business, media, sports) People of talent, viewed collectively; a talented person. [from 19th c.]

   The director searched their talent pool to fill the new opening.

   • 2025 October 4, Maureen Dowd, “When A.I. Came for Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 October 2025:

     And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. “She’s not going to talk back,” one top talent wrangler told me dryly.

5. (slang) The men or (especially) women of a place or area, judged by their attractiveness. [from 20th c.]

   Not much talent in this bar tonight—let's hit the clubs.

   • 2011, Nic Venter, Wow! What a Life!, page 179:

     I went down to the beach front, of course, for that was the first thing that all Vaalies did: to look at the sea and to check the talent on the beach.

• See also Thesaurus:skill

• “talent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “talent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• antlet, latent, latten

Borrowed from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton).

• IPA^(key): (Central) [təˈlen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təˈlent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [taˈlent]

talent m (plural talents)

1. talent (Greek money)
2. talent (skill)

• atalentat
• talentós

talent f (plural talents)

1. appetite, hunger

   Synonym: gana

• “talent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈtalɛnt]

talent m inan

1. talent (unit of weight)
2. talent (actual or potential ability)

   Synonym: nadání n

• “talent”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “talent”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “talent”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Borrowed from German Talent (“talent”), from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”).

• IPA^(key): /talɛnt/, [taˈlɛnˀd̥]

talent n (singular definite talentet, plural indefinite talenter)

1. talent (potential or factual ability to perform a skill better than most people)

• talent on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

From Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”).

• IPA^(key): /talɛnt/, [taˈlɛnˀd̥]

talent c (singular definite talenten, plural indefinite talenter)

1. talent (unit of weight and money)

From Middle Dutch talent, from Old French talent, from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “a particular weight, balance”), from Proto-Indo-European *tl̥h₂ent-, from *telh₂-.

• IPA^(key): /taːˈlɛnt/
• Hyphenation: ta‧lent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

talent n (plural talenten, diminutive talentje n)

1. talent (gift, quality, capability)
2. (historical) talent (ancient weight, value of money or coin)

• met zijn talenten woekeren
• natuurtalent
• talentenjacht
• talentvol

• Afrikaans: talent
• → Indonesian: talen

• latten

Borrowed from Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance; a particular weight, especially of gold; sum of money; a talent”).

• IPA^(key): /ta.lɑ̃/

talent m (plural talents)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece) a talent (an obsolete unit of weight or money)
2. a talent, a gift, a knack

• talentueux

• “talent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• latent

• taland, talande, talant, talente (all rare)

From Old French talent and Old English talente, both from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton).

• IPA^(key): /taˈlɛnt/, /ˈtalɛnt/

talent (plural talentes or talens)

1. A talent (ancient unit of money or weight)
2. Will, inclination, or desire.

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in Le Morte Darthur, book X:

     But my hede said sir Palomydes I wille not ryde these thre dayes / […] / Truly said sir Lamorak / and I wille abyde here with you / And whan ye ryde / thenne wille I ryde / […] / therfor I pray you syr Dynadan abyde and ryde with vs / Feythfully said Dynadan I wylle not abyde for I haue suche a talent to see sir Tristram that I may not abyde longe from hym

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. A base inclination or urge (especially lustful or for food)
4. An emotion or feeling (especially positive or affectionate)
5. A purpose; a plan or idea serving one.
6. (rare) Capacity, character, or nature.
7. (rare) A talent (ability, skill).

• maltalent

• English: talent
• Scots: talent

• “talent, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Borrowed from Medieval Latin talentum.

talent n (definite singular talentet, indefinite plural talent or talenter, definite plural talenta or talentene)

1. (a) talent

• talentfull

• “talent” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Medieval Latin talentum.

talent n (definite singular talentet, indefinite plural talent, definite plural talenta)

1. (a) talent

• talentfull

• “talent” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

• IPA^(key): /taˈlen/

talent m (plural talents)

1. talent (skill)

• talentós

talent m or f (plural talents)

1. appetite, hunger

   Synonym: fam

• atalentar

• talant

Borrowed from Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance; a particular weight, especially of gold; sum of money; a talent”).

talent oblique singular, m (oblique plural talenz or talentz, nominative singular talenz or talentz, nominative plural talent)

1. desire; wish (to do something)

• Middle English: talent, taland, talande, talant, talente (in part)
  • English: talent
  • Scots: talent

Learned borrowing from Latin talentum, from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton), from Proto-Indo-European *tl̥h₂ent-, from *telh₂-

• IPA^(key): /ˈta.lɛnt/
• Rhymes: -alɛnt
• Syllabification: ta‧lent

talent m inan (diminutive talencik)

1. talent, gift

   Antonym: antytalent

talent m animal

1. (historical) talent (ancient unit of weight and money)

talent m pers (diminutive talencik)

1. (metonymic) talented person

   Antonym: antytalent

• talent in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• talent in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French talent.

talent n (plural talente)

1. talent

• tàlenat (Bosnia, Serbia)

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

• IPA^(key): /tǎlent/
• Hyphenation: ta‧lent

tàlent m inan or m anim (Cyrillic spelling та̀лент) (Croatia)

1. (inanimate) talent
2. (animate) talented person
3. (historical, inanimate) talent (Ancient Greek and Hebrew unit of weight and money)

inanimate

animate

• talen (colloquial)

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈtalɛnt/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈtaːlɛnt/, /ˈtalɛnt/
• Rhymes: -alɛnt

talu +‎ -ent

talent

1. (literary) third-person plural imperfect/conditional of talu

Borrowed from Latin talentum.

talent m or f (plural talentau or talenti or talennau or talents)

1. ability, aptitude
2. talent (“coin”)

• talentog (“talented”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “talent”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies