The Merriam-Webster word of the day is Savant.
Noun: sa-VAHNT
Definition
1: a person of learning; especially: one with detailed knowledge in some specialized field (as of science or literature)
2: a person affected with a mental disability (such as autism) who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited field (such as mathematics or music); especially: autistic savant
Example:
“His conversation, I remember, was about the Bertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the French savant." — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1893
According to Merriam Webster:
“Savant comes from Latin sapere- “to be wise”- by way of Middle French, where savant is the present participle of savoir, meaning “to know”.
“Savant shares roots with the English words sapient- “possessing great wisdom”- and sage -“having or showing wisdom through reflection and experience”.
“The term is sometimes used in common parlance to refer to a person who demonstrates extraordinary knowledge in a particular subject, or an extraordinary ability to perform a particular task, such as complex arithmetic, but who has much more limited capacities in other areas.
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