Nous

I was surprised when I described someone as having plenty of nous (pronounced ‘nowse’) that the spellchecker (or spillchucker as I prefer to call it) rejected the word ‘nous’. I often use the word nous in its meaning of ‘common sense’ but I thought I had better check the spelling to be on the safe side. I discovered it is spelled nous and that it not only has the meanings ‘common sense, mind or intellect’ but it is also a term in Platonic philosophy. In that philosophy it means the Higher Mind or Soul – the idea of man’s Spirit as opposed to animal-Soul.

P.S. Nous (pronounced 'nu') is the French word for we.