Savvy

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈsæv.i/
• Rhymes: -ævi

Origin

Alteration of save, sabi ("know") (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese or Spanish 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.

Full definition of savvy

Adjective

1. (informal) Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
• 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations.

Synonyms

• canny

Verb

1. (informal) to understand

Interjection

1. (informal) Do you understand?

Noun

1. Shrewdness