wit

¹

[ wit ]

noun

1. the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.

   Synonyms: drollery

2. speech or writing showing such perception and expression.

   Synonyms: raillery, quip, witticism, banter, bon mot, persiflage, badinage, repartee

3. a person having or noted for such perception and expression.

   Synonyms: satirist, jester, wag

4. understanding, intelligence, or sagacity.

   Synonyms: mind, sense, wisdom

5. Usually wits.
   1. powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness:

      using one's wits to get ahead.

   2. mental faculties; senses:

      to lose one's wits;

      frightened out of one's wits.

wit

²

[ wit ]

verb (used with or without object)

3rd: wotpresent singular 1st person: wotpast and past participle: wistpresent participle: wittingpresent plural: wit or wite2nd: wost

1. Archaic. to know.

wit

¹

/ wɪt /

noun

1. the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect
2. speech or writing showing this quality
3. a person possessing, showing, or noted for such an ability, esp in repartee
4. practical intelligence (esp in the phrase have the wit to )
5. dialect.
   information or knowledge (esp in the phrase get wit of )
6. archaic.
   mental capacity or a person possessing it
7. obsolete.
   the mind or memory

wit

²

/ wɪt /

verb

1. archaic.
   to be or become aware of (something)

adverb

1. to wit
   that is to say; namely (used to introduce statements, as in legal documents)

Word History and Origins

Origin of wit¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English: “mind, thought”; cognate with German Witz, Old Norse vit; akin to wit ²

Origin of wit²

First recorded before 900; Middle English witen, Old English witan; cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Old Norse vita, Gothic witan to know; akin to Latin vidēre “to see,” Greek oîda (dialect woîda “I know,” and ideîn (dialect wideîn ) “to see,” Sanskrit vidati “(he) knows”; wot

Word History and Origins

Origin of wit¹

Old English witt; related to Old Saxon giwitt, Old High German wizzi (German Witz ), Old Norse vit, Gothic witi. See wit ²

Origin of wit²

Old English witan; related to Old High German wizzan (German wissen ), Old Norse vita, Latin vidēre to see

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. keep / have one's wits about one, to remain alert and observant; be prepared for or equal to anything:

   to keep your wits about you in a crisis.

2. live by one's wits, to provide for oneself by employing ingenuity or cunning; live precariously:

   We traveled around the world, living by our wits.

3. to wit, that is to say; namely:

   It was the time of the vernal equinox, to wit, the beginning of spring.

4. at one's wit's end. at the end of one's ideas or mental resources; perplexed:

   My two-year-old won't eat anything but pizza, and I'm at my wit's end.

More idioms and phrases containing wit

see at one's wit's end ; have one's wits about one ; live by one's wits ; scare out of one's wits ; to wit .

Synonym Study

See humor.

Related Words

• fun
• joke
• satire