Dictionary

savvy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈsæv.i/ (Australia, Canada, UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Alteration of save, sabi (“to know”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese sabe (“[she/he] knows”), from saber (“to know”), from Latin sapere (“to taste; to know”). First appears c. 1785 in a dictionary by Francis Grose, as a noun, “practical sense, intelligence”; also a verb, “to know, to understand”. The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.

Meanings

1. (informal) Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
   • Mellors explains that the current mix of customers on Avanti's trains is more skewed towards leisure customers who are price savvy. Typically, this means that the average yield from their tickets is lower. 2026 August 19, Andy Mellors talks to Helen Nugent, “The RAIL Interview”, in RAIL, number 1068, page 28:
   • That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations. 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2012:

Forms

Deriveds

cybersavvy · nonsavvy · media-savvy · techno-savvy · savviness · tech-savvy · savvily · unsavvy · high-tech savvy · genre-savvy

Relateds

sapient · savant · sapid · sapience · sapiens · insipient · insipience · insipid · Homo sapiens

Synonyms

canny

Translations (39)

tr akıllı (well-informed and perceptive) · it furbo (well-informed and perceptive) · es conocedor (well-informed and perceptive) · tr kurnaz (well-informed and perceptive) · cs chytrý (well-informed and perceptive) · pt sábio (well-informed and perceptive) · es canchero (well-informed and perceptive) · cs vnímavý (well-informed and perceptive) · bg знаещ (well-informed and perceptive) · de clever (well-informed and perceptive) · de klug (well-informed and perceptive) · ru вруба́ющийся (well-informed and perceptive) · sv klok (well-informed and perceptive) · fi älykäs (well-informed and perceptive) · cs důvtipný (well-informed and perceptive) · ru продви́нутый (well-informed and perceptive) · ru сообража́ющий (well-informed and perceptive) · ar الدهاء (well-informed and perceptive) · es sabio (well-informed and perceptive) · sh информиран (well-informed and perceptive) · sv slug (well-informed and perceptive) · es avezado (well-informed and perceptive) · cmn 精明能幹的 /精明能干的 (well-informed and perceptive) · ru смы́слящий (well-informed and perceptive) · fr malin (well-informed and perceptive) · pt sabido (well-informed and perceptive) · it astuto (well-informed and perceptive) · sv smart (well-informed and perceptive) · de schlau (well-informed and perceptive) · sh umješan (well-informed and perceptive) · fa زرنگ (well-informed and perceptive) · fr futé (well-informed and perceptive) · sh умјешан (well-informed and perceptive) · fi fiksu (well-informed and perceptive) · cs řídící se zdravým rozumem (well-informed and perceptive) · es sabedor (well-informed and perceptive) · sh informiran (well-informed and perceptive) · ru куме́кающий (well-informed and perceptive) · es sabido (well-informed and perceptive)

wikipedia: Francis Grose

savvy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsæv.i/ (Australia, Canada, UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Alteration of save, sabi (“to know”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese sabe (“[she/he] knows”), from saber (“to know”), from Latin sapere (“to taste; to know”). First appears c. 1785 in a dictionary by Francis Grose, as a noun, “practical sense, intelligence”; also a verb, “to know, to understand”. The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.

Meanings

1. (informal, uncountable) Shrewdness.

Synonyms

savviness

wikipedia: Francis Grose

savvy en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈsæv.i/ (Australia, Canada, UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Alteration of save, sabi (“to know”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese sabe (“[she/he] knows”), from saber (“to know”), from Latin sapere (“to taste; to know”). First appears c. 1785 in a dictionary by Francis Grose, as a noun, “practical sense, intelligence”; also a verb, “to know, to understand”. The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.

Meanings

1. (informal) To understand.
   • He's probably a perfect technician as a surgeon, but he knows you get only what you grab. Think of the years it's taken me to learn what he savvied all the time! 1925, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXIV, in Arrowsmith, Harcourt Brace & Co., page 280:

Forms

Translations (17)

fa گرفتن ((informal) to understand) · tr kavramak ((informal) to understand) · fi hiffata ((informal) to understand) · de kapieren ((informal) to understand) · bg схващам ((informal) to understand) · fi tajuta ((informal) to understand) · tr çakmak ((informal) to understand) · pt sacar ((informal) to understand) · cs rozumět ((informal) to understand) · pt saber ((informal) to understand) · fr piger ((informal) to understand) · tr idrak etmek ((informal) to understand) · de verstehen ((informal) to understand) · fi kässätä ((informal) to understand) · es saber ((informal) to understand) · de schnallen ((informal) to understand) · cs dovtípit se ((informal) to understand)

wikipedia: Francis Grose