Wordul · all words

adjective · 2 syllables · /'sæv.i/

SAVVY

What does "SAVVY" mean?

Shrewdly informed, practically knowledgeable, and quick to understand a situation.

Meanings

  1. Having practical knowledge and shrewd understanding of a subject. A tech-savvy teenager set up the whole network in an hour. informal
  2. Practical know-how or shrewdness. It took real business savvy to turn the failing shop around. informal
  3. To understand or know (chiefly in dialect or pirate-speak). We do it my way - savvy? informal

Did you know?

  • Savvy entered English through sailors' pidgin, garbled from the Spanish 'sabe usted?' ('do you know?') - which is why the old verb form 'savvy?' literally means 'do you understand?'

Word origin

From a creole and pidgin form of Spanish 'sabe (usted)?' meaning 'do you know?', from Latin 'sapere', 'to know, to be wise'.

Remember it

Double-V SAVVY - two sharp V's like a knowing person's raised, understanding eyebrows.

A little poem

Not the book-smart kind that quotes the rule,
but the street kind, learned by playing the fool.

couplet

Wordplay

  • A sailor asked the Spaniard 'sabe?' and centuries later English answered 'savvy?' - the same question, just worse spelling.

What it teaches

Cleverness reads the book; savvy reads the room - and the room is where the book gets used.

Quick facts

What does SAVVY mean?

Shrewdly informed, practically knowledgeable, and quick to understand a situation.

Is SAVVY a valid word?

Yes — SAVVY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is SAVVY?

SAVVY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.

Where does SAVVY come from?

From a creole and pidgin form of Spanish 'sabe (usted)?' meaning 'do you know?', from Latin 'sapere', 'to know, to be wise'.

What can SAVVY teach us?

Cleverness reads the book; savvy reads the room - and the room is where the book gets used.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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