Prodigious means remarkably great in size or extent. A prodigious appetite, prodigious talent, a prodigious memory.
It is admiring rather than merely descriptive, and it belongs to talents, appetites and outputs. The Latin behind it means portentous or unnatural, since the related prodigy was first an omen rather than a gifted child.
1adjectiveprodigiousRemarkably great in size or extent.
“He had a prodigious appetite and could eat three plates of pasta at one sitting.”
prodigious is a degree.
Latin prodigiosus comes from prodigium, an omen or portent.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁eǵ-
Middle English
prodigious
English, today
prodigious
Built from
From Middle English prodigious. The adjective is derived from Late Middle English prodigious (“warning of disaster, portentous”), from Latin prōdigiōsus (“strange, unnatural; marvellous, wonderful, prodigious”), from prōdigium (“prophetic sign, omen, portent; prodigy, wonder”) + -ōsus. Prōdigium is derived from prō- + aiō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁eǵ- (“to say”)) + -ium. The English word is analysable as prodigy + -ous. The adverb is derived from the adjective.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA