wunderkind
Americannoun
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wunderkinds,
plural
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wunderkinder
plural
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a wonder child or child prodigy.
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a person who succeeds, especially in business, at a comparatively early age.
noun
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a child prodigy
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a person who is exceptionally successful in his field while still young
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wunderkind
1890–95; < German, equivalent to Wunder wonder + Kind child
Explanation
A wunderkind is someone who achieves a huge amount of success at a young age. Publish a bestselling novel before you turn 14 and everyone will be calling you a wunderkind. If you think this word looks a lot like "wonder kid," you're on the right track — the German Wunderkind means "wonder-child." It initially described musical prodigies like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed his first piece of music at the age of five. Today you can use it for any amazing young person, like your six-year-old cousin who does crazy skateboard tricks or the student in math class who rapidly solves equations that stump her teacher.
Vocabulary lists containing wunderkind
Words Derived from German
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And as it bookends a summer led by “Obsession” and “Backrooms” fervor, with studios clamoring to find the next Gen Z wunderkind, Ullom quietly but consistently surpasses his peers at every winding turn.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
This week: Situational Awareness—an A.I.-forward hedge fund led by a former wunderkind and OpenAI employee—was tanking fast until a rival fund stepped in.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026
Aschenbrenner was an AI wunderkind who launched his project in 2024 at the tender age of just 23.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Two of La Roja’s starters — teenagers Cubarsí and wunderkind Lamine Yamal — hadn’t even been born when Messi made his World Cup debut in 2006.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Peter Diamond was the latest up-and-coming Brooklyn wunderkind literary sensation.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
Bogdanovich made “What’s Up, Doc?” after “The Last Picture Show,” the ecstatically received film that established his reputation as one of New Hollywood’s wunderkinder.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2020
Like many wunderkinder, Korngold had a bumpy transition to adulthood.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2019
Forty years later those wunderkinder are now midcareer and have accomplished even more than expected, according to a recent follow-up survey.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 29, 2015
Lots of the tech wunderkinder honed their skills during their service in army units whose products will never be cleared for publication.
From Slate ● Jan. 2, 2014
He introduced Ernest Lawrence to his readers as the leader of a “scouting party” of Berkeley wunderkinder, most of them “still in their early thirties.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The Leitersdorf brothers, who come from a prominent Israeli family that includes real-estate developers, venture capitalists and startup founders, are wunderkinds of the country’s tech industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Though Mr. Bogdanovich repeatedly disavowed the connection, critics liked to point out affinities between Welles’s career and his own: Both men began as directorial wunderkinds.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2022
This would reward older athletes who waited two years to compete and ensure the wunderkinds of not missing out on their athletic primes between Rio 2016 and Paris 2024.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 11, 2021
There were always wunderkinds and rising stars and the occasional military leader but running for office meant getting inside the system and working your way up.
From Fox News ● Jun. 29, 2020
For one, both are wunderkinds of a sort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
