sapient

English

Etymology

From Middle English sapient, from Old French sapient, or its source, Latin sapiēns. Doublet of savant.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪpɪənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪpiənt/

Adjective

sapient (comparative more sapient, superlative most sapient)

1. Attempting to appear wise or discerning.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wise

   • 1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse:

     "... A man would blush to say to himself in the darkness of the night the things he stands up on a platform in the garish light of day to stuff into the ears of a multitude whose intelligence he pretends that he esteems.... Therefore, why be sapient and solemn about it, like an editorial in a newspaper?" Nick added, with a smile.

   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 217:

     In Europe I had been told by sapient academics that there wasn't really any class system in the United States: well, you couldn't prove that by the conditions in California's agribusinesses, or indeed its urban factories.

2. (dated) Possessing wisdom and discernment; wise, learned.
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

     [To Edgar] Come ſit thou here moſt learned Iuſtice / [To the Fool] Thou ſapient ſir ſit here, […]

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 439–443:

     Spot more delicious then thoſe Gardens feign’d / Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renownd / Alcinous, hoſt of old Laertes Son, / Or that, not Myſtic, where the Sapient King / Held dalliance with his faire Egyptian Spouſe.

   • 1839, "Bewitched Butter" in W. B. Yates (ed.), Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (1892), Barnes & Noble, 2009, p. 295,

     She had five or six cows; but it was observed by her sapient neighbors that she sold more butter every year than other farmers' wives who had twenty.

3. (chiefly science fiction) Of a species or life-form, possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.

   Synonyms: sentient; see also Thesaurus:self-aware

   • 1935 February, Bob Olsen, “Who Deserves Credit?”, in Amazing Stories, volume 9, number 10, page 81:

     When EXPLORATION blazed through space / The first sky-trail to far-flung stars, / And found men, sapient, on Mars, / He gained renown's most honored place.

   • 1962 January, Henry Beam Piper, “Naudsonce”, in Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction, volume 68, number 5, page 9:

     It was inhabited by a sapient humanoid race, and some of them were civilized enough to put it in Class V, and Colonial Office doctrine on Class V planets was rigid.

   • 1970, Larry Niven, Ringworld, page 72:

     Nessus had not spoken mockingly; but Speaker reacted with rage. “What sapient being would not fear such power?”

Coordinate terms

• sentient

Related terms

• Homo sapiens
• insipid
• insipience
• insipient
• sapid
• sapience
• sapiens
• sapiently
• savant
• savvy

 

Translations

possessing wisdom and discernment

• Bulgarian: мъдър (bg) (mǎdǎr)
• Danish: intelligent (da), vis (da)
• Greek: σοφός (el) (sofós)
• Persian: فرزانه (fa) (farzâne)
• Portuguese: sapiente (pt)
• Russian: разу́мный (ru) (razúmnyj)

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sapient”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 169.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “sapient adj.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

Noun

sapient (plural sapients)

1. (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware being.
   • 1960, Philip José Farmer, A Woman a Day, page 30:

     It seemed to him a possibility that the Cold War Corps of March might have contacted hitherto unknown sapients on some just discovered interstellar planet.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:sentient

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sapient”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 169.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “sapient n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sapient”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• painest, panties, pantsie, patines, peisant, pianets, pinates, ptisane, spinate

Latin

Verb

sapient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of sapiō

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sapiēns. Compare savant.

Adjective

sapient m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sapient or sapiente)

1. wise; sapient

Declension

Declension of sapient

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	sapiens, sapienz, sapients	sapiente	sapient
	Oblique	sapient			sapiente	sapient
Plural	Subject	sapient	sapientes		sapient
	Oblique	sapiens, sapienz, sapients			sapientes	sapient

Related terms

• sapience
• sapientement

Descendants

• → English: sapient
• French: sapient

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sapiēns, sapientis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsa.piˈent/

Adjective

sapient m or n (feminine singular sapientă, masculine plural sapienți, feminine and neuter plural sapiente)

1. (rare) learned, wise

   Synonyms: înțelept, savant, învățat, doct, erudit

Declension

Declension of sapient

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	sapient		sapientă	sapienți	sapiente
	definite	sapientul		sapienta	sapienții	sapientele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	sapient		sapiente	sapienți	sapiente
	definite	sapientului		sapientei	sapienților	sapientelor

Related terms

• sapiență