savvy

Meaning

Adj

Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.

Verb

To understand.

Noun

Shrewdness.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsæ.vi/

Etymology

Alteration of save, sabi (“know”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese or Spanish sabe (“[she/he] knows”), or from Catalan savi (“wise, very learned”) from saber (“to know”), from Latin sapere (“taste, know”). First appears c. 1785 in a by dictionary by Francis Grose, as a noun, “practical sense, intelligence”; also a verb, “to know, to understand”; West Indies pidgin borrowing of Catalan savi (“wise or knowlegeable”), Portuguese (ele) sabe (“he knows”), French savez(-vous) (“do you know”), or Spanish (usted) sabe (“you know”), all from the same Latin source (see also sapient). The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun. Savvy is phonetically more consistent with savi in Catalan or sabe in Portuguese, than sabe in Spanish or savez in French. Grammatically as well, savi in Catalan is both a noun and an adjective, while sabe and savez are just verb conjugations for “he/she knows” and “you know”, respectively.