wit

English

/wɪt/, /wɪt/

noun
Definitions
  • (now) Sanity.
  • (obsolete) The senses.
  • Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.
  • The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.
  • Intelligence; common sense.
  • Humour, especially when clever or quick.
  • A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wit inherited from Old English witt (sense, consciousness, intellect, conscience, knowledge, understanding) inherited from *witi inherited from Proto-Germanic *witją (knowledge, reason, mind, wit) derived from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (see, know, behold, perceive, find, view, look at), *weyd- (see, know, behold, perceive, find, view, look at).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*weyd-

Gloss

see, know, behold, perceive, find, view, look at

Concept
Semantic Field

Sense perception

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

知

Emoji
🙈 🪚

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms