ingenuous
adjective /ɪnˈdʒenjuəs/
/ɪnˈdʒenjuəs/
(formal, sometimes disapproving)- honest, innocent and willing to trust people synonym naive
- You're too ingenuous.
- an ingenuous smile
- It is ingenuous to suppose that money did not play a part in his decision.
Word Originlate 16th cent.: from Latin ingenuus literally ‘native, inborn’, from in- ‘into’ + an element related to gignere ‘beget’. The original sense was ‘noble, generous’, giving rise to ‘honourably straightforward, frank’, hence ‘innocently frank’ (late 17th cent.).