Sunday Word: Wunderkind

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

wunderkind [voo n-der-kind, wuhn-]
noun:

a child prodigy, someone who succeeds in a competitive or highly difficult field or profession at an early age

Examples:

Cuco Hawthorne wunderkind Cuco has come a long way from self-producing his lovelorn solo pop tracks in his bedroom. (Andrea Domanick, Best live music in L.A.: Robyn, Cuco, XXL Freshman and more, Los Angeles Times, July 2019 )

Wunderkind backstroker Missy Franklin won gold at the tender age of 17. (Kevin Fallon, ‘Today’ Show Promo Gaffe and More Biggest London Olympic Fails, Aug 2012)

There I met the dazzling wunderkind Paul Samuelson. When I was browsing in the Berkeley library and came across early issues of Econometrica, Samuelson’s contributions caught my eye. (Lawrence R. Klein, Lecture at Trinity University in October 1984, published in Lives of the Laureates, edited by William Breit and Barry T Hirsh)

Origin:

German : Wunder, wonder, prodigy (from Middle High German, from Old High German wuntar) + Kind, child. (Free Dictionary)

1883 in English (earlier as a German word in German contexts), from German Wunderkind, literally "wonder-child." (Online Etymology Dictionary)