sapience

[ sey-pee-uhns ]

noun

1. great wisdom or sound judgment:

   He did much to inculcate the image of a good prince, demonstrating his sapience at Oxford and doing justice with rigor and compassion.

2. the capacity to be self-aware:

   Language existed long before there was writing, emerging most likely at the same time as sapience, abstract thought, and the genus Homo.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sapience¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Old French, from Latin sapientia “wisdom,” from sapient-, stem of sapiēns + -ia -ia ( def ); sapient ( def )

Example Sentences

She continues with more sapience, offering Gerri as a sounding board.

From Salon

This seeming truth is said with a kind of sleepy sapience, as though only the naïve or the self-deluded would imagine anything otherwise.

From The New Yorker

It is also about the fate of the idea clumsily translated into English as “sapience” and embodied by artists and craftsmen like Borromini.

From New York Times

Where do we draw the line between sapience and sentience And most crucially, what is the definition of being human?

From The Verge

They changed both law and policing, he believes, but most of all, they demonstrated the heroism and political sapience of the Queen.

From The Guardian