Standard Lemma guide

savvy

adj · noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, Canada, UK, US: /ˈsæv.i/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ævi
  • CMU ARPABET: S AE1 V IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Shrewdness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: savviness

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To understand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the cognitive condition of someone who understands

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: understanding, apprehension, discernment

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: knowing

Narrower terms: comprehension, self-knowledge, smattering, appreciation, grasp, hold, grasping, hindsight, insight, brainstorm, brainwave, realization, realisation, recognition

5

verb

Meaning 5

get the meaning of something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grok, get the picture, comprehend, dig, grasp, compass, apprehend

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: understand

Narrower terms: figure, catch on, get wise, get onto, tumble, latch on, cotton on, twig, get it, intuit, digest

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

56 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: الدهاء (aldaha') — well-informed and perceptive
  • Bulgarian: знаещ (znaešt) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精明能幹的 /精明能干的 (jīngmíng nénggàn de) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Czech: vnímavý — well-informed and perceptive
  • Czech: důvtipný — well-informed and perceptive
  • Czech: řídící se zdravým rozumem — well-informed and perceptive
  • Czech: chytrý — well-informed and perceptive
  • Finnish: fiksu — well-informed and perceptive
  • Finnish: älykäs — well-informed and perceptive
  • French: futé — well-informed and perceptive
  • French: malin — well-informed and perceptive
  • German: clever — well-informed and perceptive
  • German: klug — well-informed and perceptive
  • German: schlau — well-informed and perceptive
  • Italian: astuto — well-informed and perceptive
  • Italian: furbo — well-informed and perceptive
  • Persian: زرنگ (zerang) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Portuguese: sábio — well-informed and perceptive
  • Portuguese: sabido — well-informed and perceptive
  • Russian: смы́слящий (smýsljaščij) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Russian: сообража́ющий (soobražájuščij) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Russian: продви́нутый (prodvínutyj) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Russian: куме́кающий (kumékajuščij) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Russian: вруба́ющийся (vrubájuščijsja) — well-informed and perceptive
  • Serbo-Croatian: умјешан — well-informed and perceptive
  • Serbo-Croatian: информиран — well-informed and perceptive
  • Serbo-Croatian: umješan — well-informed and perceptive
  • Serbo-Croatian: informiran — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: sabio — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: canchero — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: sabido — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: sabedor — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: avezado — well-informed and perceptive
  • Spanish: conocedor — well-informed and perceptive
  • Swedish: smart — well-informed and perceptive
  • Swedish: slug — well-informed and perceptive
  • Swedish: klok — well-informed and perceptive
  • Turkish: akıllı — well-informed and perceptive
  • Turkish: kurnaz — well-informed and perceptive
  • Bulgarian: схващам (shvaštam) — (informal) to understand
  • Czech: rozumět — (informal) to understand
  • Czech: dovtípit se — (informal) to understand
  • Finnish: tajuta — (informal) to understand
  • Finnish: hiffata — (informal) to understand
  • Finnish: kässätä — (informal) to understand
  • French: piger — (informal) to understand
  • German: kapieren — (informal) to understand
  • German: schnallen — (informal) to understand
  • German: verstehen — (informal) to understand
  • Persian: گرفتن (gereftan) — (informal) to understand
  • Portuguese: saber — (informal) to understand
  • Portuguese: sacar — (informal) to understand
  • Spanish: saber — (informal) to understand
  • Turkish: idrak etmek — (informal) to understand
  • Turkish: kavramak — (informal) to understand
  • Turkish: çakmak — (informal) to understand