wit

See also WIT

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old English witt (“understanding, intellect, sense, knowledge, consciousness, conscience”), from Proto-Germanic *witją (“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
Derived terms
Terms derived from wit
Translations
mind; sanity
intellectual ability
Ability to think quickly
intelligence — see intelligence
Spoken humour, particularly that thought of quickly
A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes

See also

(type of humor):

Etymology 2

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

Verb

wit (see below for this verb’s conjugation)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, 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
Translations
Know, be aware of

Etymology 3

From English with.

Pronunciation

(Southern American English): IPA: (before consonants) /wɪt/, (before vowels) /wɪtʃ/

Preposition

wit

  1. (Southern American English) Alternative spelling of with.

Anagrams

↑Jump back a section

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch wit.

Adjective

wit (attributive witte, comparative witter, superlative witste)

  1. white
↑Jump back a section

Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wīt with unexpected shortening of the vowel, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweytos (“shine; bright”). Compare German weiß, West Frisian wyt, English white, Norwegian hvit, Swedish vit.

Pronunciation

Adjective

wit (comparative witter, superlative witst)

  1. white
    De wand is wit.
    The wall is white.
  2. legal

Declension

Declension of wit
positive comparative superlative
attributive predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial wit witter
neuter
singular		 indefinite wit witter
definite witte wittere witste witst, witste
common singular witte wittere witste witste
plural witte wittere witste witste
partitive wits witters

Antonyms

Derived terms

Noun

wit n (plural witten, diminutive witje)

  1. (uncountable) white (color)
    Wit is alle kleuren ineens.
    White is all colors at once.
  2. (slang) cocaine
    Heb je een halfje wit?

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: wit

Verb

wit

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

Anagrams

↑Jump back a section

Gothic

Romanization

wit

  1. See 𐍅𐌹𐍄
↑Jump back a section

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French sept.

Numeral

wit

  1. (cardinal) eight
↑Jump back a section

Mauritian Creole

Mauritian Creole cardinal numbers
 <  7 8 9  > 
    Cardinal : wit
    Ordinal : witiem

Etymology

From French huit.

Numeral

wit

  1. (cardinal) eight
↑Jump back a section

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

Pronoun

wit (personal)

  1. We two; nominative dual form of iċ.
↑Jump back a section

Old French

Numeral

wit

  1. eight
↑Jump back a section

Old High German

Etymology

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

Adjective

wit

  1. wide

Descendants

↑Jump back a section

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wet.

Pronoun

wit

  1. We two; nominative dual form of ik.

Declension

Old Saxon personal pronoun declensions
Personal pronouns
Singular 1. 2. 3. m 3. f 3. n
Nominative ik thū hē sīu it
Accusative mī, mik thī, thik ina sīa
Dative mī thī imu iru it
Genitive mīn thīn is ira is
Dual 1. 2. - - -
Nominative wit git - - -
Accusative unk ink - - -
Dative
Genitive unkaro inka - - -
Plural 1. 2. 3. m 3. f 3. n
Nominative wī gī sīa sīa sīu
Accusative ūs īu, gīu
Dative im
Genitive ūsar īuwar, gīuwar iro
↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 16:10