Do you know someone who seems to have expert-level knowledge about nearly everything, or who at least seems very well informed? You could call that person a \"fount of knowledge\". Keep reading to discover what this idiom means, where it came from, and how to put it to use.<\/p>\n
The idiom \"fount of knowledge\" refers to a source of great, and often almost endless, knowledge<\/u>.<\/p>\n
People may be described as being founts of knowledge, but so may books, educational institutions, or even the internet.<\/p>\n
The variation \"fount of wisdom<\/strong>\" has a similar meaning, but the person, book, or other source of information offers great wisdom instead in that instance.<\/p>\n A \"fount\" is a \"spring of wate<\/u>r\", or a fountain<\/u>, and as such, the idiom \"fount of knowledge\" invokes imagery of ever-flowing knowledge, like water flows from a spring.<\/p>\n Are you curious how you might be able to incorporate the phrase \"fount of knowledge\" into a sentence? These examples should help you out:<\/p>\n The idiom \"fount of knowledge\" dates back to the late sixteenth century and has a rather fascinating history.<\/p>\n The word \"fount\", meaning \"a spring of water\", comes from the French \"font\", which in turn came from the French \"fontaine\", meaning \"fountain\".<\/p>\n A fountain, whether natural or artificial, provides a constant source of water<\/em>. The phrase \"fount of knowledge\", is, as such, a rather vivid idiom that that likens a source of great knowledge to a flowing fountain. No matter how much you drink, there always seems to be more.<\/p>\n There is considerable debate about whether the idiom should be \"fount of knowledge\" or \"font of knowledge<\/strong>\", and looking at the original French reveals that both \"fount\" and \"font\" have the same etymology (linguistic origin).<\/p>\n Both could, therefore, perhaps be considered correct, but \"fount of knowledge\" is the more common use.<\/p>\n It is important to consider that, in modern English:<\/p>\n Besides a \"fount of knowledge\", you can also say \"fount of wisdom\". You could, indeed, adapt this saying to indicate that someone or something is a constant source of anything you like, such as saying that someone is a \"fount of trouble\", or whatever else you like.<\/p>\n If you don't want to use the idiom \"fount of knowledge\", you could also try:<\/p>\n Someone who is a fount of knowledge is very knowledgeable. The opposite would be someone who is uneducated, ignorant, or not very intelligent. Phrases that convey this meaning include:<\/p>\n The correct saying is \"fount of knowledge\". This idiom refers to a source of great knowledge, whether a person, a book, or an institution.<\/p>\n The variation \"font of knowledge\" is also in use. It is used less commonly and is often considered to be incorrect. You would therefore be advised to avoid this variation.<\/u><\/p>\n It is, however, interesting to note that the word \"font\" has the same linguistic origin as \"fount\".<\/p>\n You can use the phrase \"fount of knowledge\" to describe anything or anyone acting as a source of considerable knowledge<\/u> \u2014 like a teacher, smart person in your life, a library, or a particular book.<\/p>\n If you have grown used to the variation \"font<\/em> of knowledge\", you can remind yourself that \"fount\" is essentially a shortened version of \"fountain\". As water flows from a fountain, knowledge flows from the \"fount\" in question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you know someone who seems to have expert-level knowledge about nearly everything, or who at least seems very well informed? You could call that person a \"fount of knowledge\". Keep reading to discover what this idiom means, where it came from, and how to put it to use. \u200b\u200bMeaning The idiom \"fount of knowledge\" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8874,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8871\/revisions\/8874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u200b\u200bExample Usage<\/h2>\n
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\u200b\u200bOrigin<\/h2>\n
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Phrases Similar to Fount of Knowledge<\/h2>\n
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Phrases Opposite to Fount of Knowledge<\/h2>\n
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\u200bWhat Is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n
\u200b\u200bWays People May Say Fount of Knowledge Incorrectly<\/h2>\n
\u200b\u200bAcceptable Ways to Phrase Fount of Knowledge<\/h2>\n