bel esprit vs intellect

bel esprit and intellect both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
bel esprit	Yes	No	No	No
intellect	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, intellect is a hypernym of bel esprit; that is, intellect is a word with a broader meaning than bel esprit:

Other hypernyms of bel esprit include intellectual.

bel esprit (noun)	intellect (noun)
a witty or clever person with a fine mind	the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination
	knowledge and intellectual ability
	a person who uses the mind creatively