I want to display three levels in my game…but I don't know what the text should say.
easy -> Beginner
medium -> ?
hard -> Expert
Basically, I want the form that describes the person playing the game, instead of the game itself. What adjective is best?
I have considered adept.
I doubt my users will know what adept means. Also, I need something in between expert and beginner. Adept falls into the expert category. Is there anything more common that I can use, that has the same impact as the other two words I mentioned?
Proficient would work, theoretically, but in day-to-day term, the levels "beginner – proficient – expert" won't sound great.
Best Answer
I think the correct word is intermediate, as @Rathony mentioned. It's also a noun, so He is an intermediate is perfectly OK:
(AHD)
(Macmillan Dictionary)
One classic example is Minesweeper:
@Rathony If you choose to post "intermediate" as an answer I will happily delete mine or edit it to suggest other alternatives.
UPDATE: Some EL&U users have challenged the use of intermediate as a noun. Some went as far as to say that "I'm an intermediate" have never (sic!) been said.
If you doubt this usage, consider this entry from the Oxford American Dictionary: