savant
n. countablen. a person who has a very high level of knowledge or skill in one specific subject. This person might also have a condition that makes them very good at one thing but not others.
n. a person of exceptional knowledge or skill in a particular field. Often refers to an individual with savant syndrome, who exhibits prodigious mental abilities in a specific area despite significant developmental disabilities.
The young savant could solve complex math problems in seconds.
The museum hired a savant to catalog the rare collection of 18th-century botanical prints.
While the term often implies a genius, a clinical savant typically demonstrates extraordinary talent in a narrow domain, such as music or mathematics, while lacking basic social or cognitive skills.
Borrowed from French savant, from Latin sapiō. Doublet of sapient. Sense 3 is a clipping of idiot savant, literally ‘wise idiot’.