English edit

Etymology edit

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).

1785, 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.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsæ.vi/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ævi

Adjective edit

savvy (comparative savvier, superlative savviest)

  1. (informal) Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
    • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club[1]:
      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 edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

Verb edit

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

  1. (informal) To understand.

Translations edit

Noun edit

savvy (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Shrewdness.
    Synonym: savviness

References edit

Chinese Pidgin English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Macau Pidgin Portuguese 撒㗑 (saat3 baai3), 撒備 (saat3 bi6), 散拜 (saan2 baai3), from Portuguese sabe.

Verb edit

savvy

  1. to know
    • 1860, The Englishman in China, London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., page 44:
      My no sarby.
      I don’t know.
  2. to understand

References edit

  • Gow, W. S. P. (1924) Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 108: “Savvy: (Portuguese) know; understand; No savvy ? Do you not understand ?”