savvy

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Translations 1.4 Verb 1.5 Interjection

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Alteration of sabi (“‘know’”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese sabe (“‘[he] knows’”), from saber (“‘to know’”), from Latin sapere (“‘to be wise’”).

1785, as a noun, "practical sense, intelligence;" also a verb, "to know, to understand;" West Indies pidgin borrowing of French savez(-vous) (“‘do you know’”)" or Spanish sabe (usted) (“‘you know’”), both from Vulgar Latin *sapere, from Latin sapere (“‘be wise, be knowing’”) (see sapient). The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈsæv.i/, SAMPA: /"s{v.i/
• Rhymes: -ævi

[edit] Adjective

savvy (comparative savvier, superlative savviest)

1. (informal) shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to savvy (third-person singular simple present savvies, present participle savvying, simple past and past participle savvied)

1. To understand

[edit] Interjection

savvy

1. A phrase to determine if something is understood.