Other forms: talents
Talent is a natural ability to do something well. Great talent, a talent for music, talent show.
How much of it is natural is genuinely disputed — practice explains far more than the word suggests, and calling somebody talented can discourage the work that actually makes the difference. In industry, talent means the people themselves. The word comes from a Greek weight of silver, by way of the biblical parable of the talents.
1nountalentA natural ability to do something well.
“She has a real talent for drawing and wants to go to art school.”
talent is an ability.
Latin talentum was a Greek weight and sum of money. The sense of ability comes from the parable of the talents.
Middle English
talent
English, today
talent
From Middle English talent. 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 (“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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA