# intrinsic

Pronunciation: US say "in-TRIN-zik" /ɪnˈtɹɪn.zɪk/; UK

## Adjective

1. Belonging to the essential nature of something and inseparable from it, rather than coming from outside.
   - Simple: Part of what something really is, not added from outside.
   - _A gold coin has intrinsic value, while a paper bill is worth only what people agree it is worth._
   - _She believes every person has intrinsic worth, regardless of what they achieve._
2. Of a body part, located, produced, or secreted within an organ, tissue, muscle, or limb, or originating inside it.
   - Simple: Found inside a part of the body, or made or starting there.
   - _The intrinsic muscles of the larynx adjust the tension of the vocal cords._
   - _The stomach lining secretes intrinsic factor, which the body needs to absorb vitamin B12._
3. Of a function or operator in a programming language, built into the language rather than defined by the programmer.
   - Simple: Of a computer function, already built into the programming language.
   - _Fortran's intrinsic functions include SQRT and ABS, so you never have to write them yourself._
   - _The compiler rejected my function name because it clashed with an intrinsic procedure._

## Noun

4. A built-in function that the compiler implements directly, without going through a call to a library.
   - Simple: A built-in function that the compiler handles directly, without calling outside code.
   - _She rewrote the inner loop with SIMD intrinsics and cut its run time in half._
   - _This intrinsic compiles to a single processor instruction, so there is no function-call overhead._
5. In video games, an ability that belongs to a character itself and needs no outside equipment.
   - Simple: In video games, a power a character has on its own, without any special items.
   - _Drinking from the strange fountain gave my rogue the telepathy intrinsic._
   - _By the end of the run, my character had collected half a dozen intrinsics, including speed and poison resistance._

## Origin

From Middle French intrinsèque, from Latin intrīnsecus (“on the inside, inwardly”), from *intrim, an assumed adverbial form of inter (“within”), + secus (“by, on the side”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/intrinsic (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).