wit

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: wĭt, IPA: /wɪt/, SAMPA: /wIt/
• (US) enPR: wĭt, IPA: /wɪt/, SAMPA: /wIt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt
• Homophone: whit (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old English witt (“understanding, intellect, sense, knowledge, consciousness, conscience”), from Proto-Germanic *witjan (“knowledge, reason”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-, *wid- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weet, German Witz, Danish vid, Swedish vett, Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌹 (unwiti, “ignorance”), Latin videō (“see”). Compare wise.

Noun

wit (plural wits)

1. (now usually in the plural) Sanity.

   He's gone completely out of his wits.

2. (obsolete usually in the plural) The senses.
3. Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.

   Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.

4. The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.

   My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.

5. Intelligence; common sense.

   The opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn't even have the wit to take it!

6. Spoken humour, especially when clever or quick.

   The best man's speech was hilarious, full of wit and charm.

7. A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.

   Your friend is quite a wit, isn't he?

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:intelligence

Derived terms

Terms derived from wit

collect one's wits gather one's wits have one’s wits about one

mother wit native wit scare out of one’s wits

witcraft witless witling

Translations

mind; sanity

Armenian: խելք (hy) (xelk’) Catalan: ment (ca) f., enteniment (ca) m.

Italian: senno (it) Norwegian: vett (no) n. Spanish: mentalidad (es), cordura (es) f.

intellectual ability

Armenian: խելք (hy) (xelk’) Italian: ingegno vivace (it), arguzia (it)

Norwegian: forstand (no) m., intellekt (no) n. Spanish: intelectualidad (es), intelecto (es) m.

Ability to think quickly

Czech: vtip (cs) m., důvtip (cs) m. Finnish: sukkeluus (fi), nokkeluus (fi), sutkaus (fi) Italian: arguzia (it), genio (it) Portuguese: agudeza (pt), agudez (pt)

Romanian: schepsis (ro) Spanish: agudeza (es), inteligencia (es), ingenio (es), mentalidad (es), gracia (es) Turkish: nükte (tr)

intelligence — see intelligence

Spoken humour, particularly that thought of quickly

French: mot d'esprit (fr) m. Italian: senso umoristico (it)

Norwegian: vidd (no) n. Spanish: humor (es) m., gracia (es) f., chiste (es) m. espontáneo

A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes

French: petit malin (fr) m. German: Witzbold (de) m.

Spanish: imaginativo (es) m., divertido (es) m.

See also

(type of humor):

• acid
• biting
• cutting
• lambent

Etymology 2

From Old English witan, from Proto-Germanic *witanan, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-, *wid- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Swedish veta, and Latin videō (“I see”). Compare guide.

Verb

to wit (see below for this verb’s conjugation)

1. (ambitransitive, chiefly archaic) Know, be aware of (construed with of when used intransitively).

   You committed terrible actions — to wit, murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.

   They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.

   • 1849, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, St. Luke the Painter, lines 5–8

     but soon having wist

     How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day

     Are symbols also in some deeper way,

     She looked through these to God and was God’s priest.

Conjugation

Infinitive to wit Imperative wit! Present participle witting Past participle wist

Present indicative Past indicative First-person singular I wot I wist Second-person singular thou wost, wot(test) (archaic); you wot thou wist(est) (archaic), you wist Third-person singular he wot, she wot, it wot he wist, she wist, it wist First-person plural we wit, wite we wist Second-person plural ye wit, wite (archaic); you wit, wite ye wist (archaic), you wist Third-person plural they wit, wite they wist

Usage notes

• As a preterite-present verb, the third-person singular indicative form is not wits but wot  ; the plural indicative forms conform to the infinitive: we wit, ye wit, they wit.

Derived terms

Derived terms

to wit

unwitting

Anagrams

• Twi

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch wit.

Adjective

wit

1. white

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Anglo-Norman

Cardinal number

wit

1. eight

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Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wīt with unexpected shortening of the vowel, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʋɪt/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

wit (comparative witter, superlative witst)

1. white

   De wand is wit.

   The wall is white.

Declension

Declension of wit

		positive	comparative	superlative
				attributive	predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial		wit	witter
neuter singular	indefinite	wit	witter
	definite	witte	wittere	witste	het witst(e)
common singular		witte	wittere	witste	de witste
plural		witte	wittere	witste	de witste
partitive		wits	witters

Noun

wit n. (plural witten, diminutive witje)

1. (uncountable) white (color)

   Wit is alle kleuren ineens.

   White is all colors at once.

2. (countable) A person with blond hair.

   De Witte van Zichem.

   The blond boy from Zichem (a famous book).

3. (slang) cocaine

   Heb je een halfje wit?

Derived terms

• eiwit

Verb

wit

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of witten.
2. imperative of witten.

Anagrams

• Twi

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Gothic

Romanization

wit

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌹𐍄

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Louisiana Creole French

Cardinal number

wit

1. (cardinal) eight

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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wet, from Proto-Indo-European *wed-, a suffixed form of *wei- (see wē). Cognate with Old Norse vit, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍄 (wit), and Lithuanian vèdu.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wit/, SAMPA: /wIt/

Pronoun

wit (personal)

1. We two; nominative dual form of iċ.

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Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, whence also Old English wīd and Old Norse víðr.

Adjective

wit

1. wide