This article introduces how the concept of “the intellectual” travels among languages and national cultures, disciplines (philosophy – history – sociology), and also between everyday language and scholarly language. In various stages of this travel, the concept experienced periods of popularity and glory but also exile and devaluation when it became a politicised label. The example of the concept of “the intellectual” shows that the adoption of concepts in a given local context depends on social reception and socio-political conditions. Consequently, it is impossible to analyse the travel of concepts without an analysis of social phenomena. Therefore, the author of the article suggests reading Travelling Concepts in the Humanities by Mieke Bal from the perspective of historical and interpretative sociology.