interesting

English

Etymology

From interest +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɹəstɪŋ/, /ˈɪntɹɛstɪŋ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəɹəstɪŋ/, /ˈɪntɹɛstɪŋ/, /ˈɪntɹɪstɪŋ/, /ˈɪn(t)əɹɛstɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: in‧ter‧est‧ing

Adjective

interesting (comparative more interesting, superlative most interesting)

1. (obsolete) Of concern; affecting, important.
   • 1791, James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, edited by Robert William Chapman, Life of Samuel Johnson, Oxford University Press, published 2008, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 48:

     He indeed had good reason to be offended; for though Dr. Swinfen's motive was good, he inconsiderately betrayed a matter deeply interesting and of great delicacy, which had been entrusted to him in conference […] .

2. Arousing or holding the attention or interest of someone.
   • 2015-11-22, Stan Lee, "Marvel's Stan Lee: 'I'd never really thought of doing comics for a living.'", The Guardian:

     Comics were just another form of entertainment to me, but it got to be more and more interesting every day.

3. (euphemistic) Pregnant. (used with situation and condition) [from 18th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     I found myself in a fair way of being a mother; and that I might be near my own relations, in such an interesting situation, I and my dear companion departed from H—n, not without great reluctance […] .

   • 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:

     Mrs Lenville (who, as has been before hinted, was in an interesting state) rushed from the rear rank of ladies, and uttering a piercing scream threw herself upon the body.

   • 1928, William Babington Maxwell, “Part II. Enid”, in We Forget Because We Must, A Story of Decades and Lustres‎^[1], 1st edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., published 1928, →OCLC, page 45:

     I’m afraid I seem to make heavy weather of my interesting condition.

Synonyms

• absorbing

Antonyms

• uninteresting
• boring

Derived terms

• interesting condition
• interestingly
• interestingness
• interesting number paradox
• interesting situation
• make interesting
• may you live in interesting times

 

Translations

arousing or holding the attention

• Albanian: interesant (sq)
• Arabic: مُشَوِّق m (mušawwiq), ممتع (mumtiʕ), مُسَلٍّ (musallin)

  Egyptian Arabic: ممتع (múmteʕ), مُسَلِّي (musálli)

  North Levantine Arabic: ممتع (múmteʕ), بِسلّي (bisálli)

  South Levantine Arabic: ممتع (múmteʕ), مُسَلِّي (musálli), بِسلّي (bisálli)

• Armenian: հետաքրքիր (hy) (hetakʻrkʻir)
• Asturian: interesante
• Azerbaijani: maraqlı (az)
• Bashkir: ҡыҙыҡ (qıźıq)
• Basque: interesgarri
• Belarusian: ціка́вы (cikávy)
• Bengali: জবর (bn) (jobor)
• Bulgarian: интере́сен (bg) (interésen)
• Burmese: စိတ်ဝင်စားဖွယ် (cit-wangca:hpwai)
• Catalan: interessant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 得意 (yue) (dak¹ ji³)

  Hakka: 生趣 (sên-chhi)

  Hokkien: 趣味 (zh-min-nan) (chhù-bī / chhì-bī), 有局 (ū-kio̍k)

  Mandarin: 有趣 (zh) (yǒuqù), 有意思 (zh) (yǒuyìsi)

• Crimean Tatar: acayip
• Czech: zajímavý (cs)
• Danish: interessant (da), spændende (da)
• Dutch: interessant (nl), belangwekkend (nl)
• Esperanto: interesa
• Estonian: huvitav (et)
• Faroese: áhugaverdur
• Finnish: kiinnostava (fi), kiintoisa, mielenkiintoinen (fi)
• French: intéressant (fr)
• Galician: interesante (gl)
• Georgian: საინტერესო (sainṭereso)
• German: interessant (de), reizvoll (de)
• Greek: ενδιαφέρων (el) (endiaféron)
• Hebrew: מעניין \ מְעַנְיֵן m (m'anyén)
• Hindi: दिलचस्प (hi) (dilcasp), रोचक (hi) (rocak)
• Hungarian: érdekes (hu)
• Icelandic: athyglisverður (is), áhugaverður
• Ido: interesanta (io), interesiva (io)
• Indonesian: menarik (id)
• Ingrian: interesnoi
• Interlingua: interessante
• Irish: suimiúil (ga), spéisiúil
• Italian: interessante (it)
• Japanese: 面白い (ja) (おもしろい, omoshiroi), 興味深い (ja) (きょうみぶかい, kyōmibukai)
• Kazakh: қызықты (kk) (qyzyqty), қызық (qyzyq)
• Khmer: គួរឱ្យចាប់អារម្មណ៍ (kuə ʼaoy cap ʼaarɑm)
• Korean: 흥미롭다 (ko) (heungmiropda), 관심있는 (gwansiminneun), 재미있다 (ko) (jaemiitda) (entertaining)
• Kyrgyz: кызык (ky) (kızık), кызыкты (kızıktı)
• Lao: ໜ້າສົນໃຈ (nā son chai), ໜ້າສົນ (nā son)
• Latin: iūcundus, teneō (la) (to be interesting)
• Latvian: interesants
• Lithuanian: įdomus (lt)
• Macedonian: интересен (interesen), занимлив (zanimliv)
• Malay: menarik (ms)
• Manchu: ᠠᠮᡨᠠᠩᡤᠠ (amtangga)
• Manx: symoil
• Maori: whakamere
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сонирхолтой (sonirxoltoj)

• Norman: întéthêssant
• Northern Thai: ᨶ᩵ᩣᩈᩫ᩠ᨶᨧᩲ, ᨶ᩵ᩣᩈᩫ᩠ᨶ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: interessant (no)

  Nynorsk: interessant

• Occitan: interessant (oc)
• Persian: جالب (fa) (jâleb)
• Plautdietsch: intressaunt
• Polish: ciekawy (pl), interesujący (pl)
• Portuguese: interessante (pt)
• Romanian: interesant (ro)
• Russian: интере́сный (ru) (interésnyj), заня́тный (ru) (zanjátnyj)
• Sanskrit: रोचक (sa) (rocaka)
• Scottish Gaelic: inntinneach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: интереса̀нтан, занѝмљив

  Roman: interesàntan (sh), zanìmljiv (sh)

• Slovak: zaujímavý
• Slovene: zanimiv (sl)
• Spanish: interesante (es)
• Swedish: intressant (sv)
• Tajik: шавқовар (tg) (šavqovar), завқовар (zavqovar), ҳавасовар (havasovar), ҷолиб (tg) (jolib)
• Tatar: кызык (tt) (qızıq)
• Telugu: ఆసక్తికరమైన (āsaktikaramaina)
• Thai: น่าสนใจ (nâa-sǒn-jai), น่าสน (nâa-sǒn)
• Turkish: ilginç (tr), enteresan (tr), merak uyandıran
• Turkmen: gyzykly
• Udmurt: тунсыко (tunsyko), интересной (inťeresnoj)
• Ukrainian: ціка́вий (uk) (cikávyj)
• Urdu: دلچسپ (dilcasp), روچک (rōcak)
• Uzbek: qiziqarli (uz), qiziq (uz)
• Veps: melentartuine
• Vietnamese: thú vị (vi), hay (vi)
• Volapük: nitedik (vo)
• Welsh: diddorol (cy)
• West Frisian: nijsgjirrich
• Yiddish: אינטערעסאַנט (interesant), טשיקאַווע (tshikave)

Verb

interesting

1. present participle and gerund of interest