wit

Signification

Noun

1. Sanity.
2. (obsolete) The senses.
3. Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.
4. The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.
5. Intelligence; common sense.
6. Humour, especially when clever or quick.
7. A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.

Verb

Know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively).

Prep

Pronunciation spelling of with.

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/wɪt/

Étymologie

From Middle English wit, from Old English witt (“understanding, intellect, sense, knowledge, consciousness, conscience”), from Proto-West Germanic *witi, from Proto-Germanic *witją (“knowledge, reason”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“see, know”).
Cognate with Dutch weet, German Witz, Danish vid, Swedish vett, Norwegian Bokmål vett, Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌹 (unwiti, “ignorance”), Latin vīdī (“see (pf.)”), Bulgarian вям (vjam), Russian ве́дать (védatʹ), Sanskrit विद्या (vidyā). Compare wise.