Etymology

outwit

O1U1T1W4I1T1

Today it means: To get the better of; to outsmart, to beat in a competition of wits. Full definition →

English wit ← Middle English witen ← Old English witan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úd
  2. Proto-Germanic*ūt
  3. Proto-Germanic*ūt-
  4. Old Englishūt-
  5. Middle Englishut-
  6. Englishout-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*wóyde
  9. Proto-Germanic*witaną
  10. Proto-West Germanic*witan
  11. Old Englishwitan
  12. Middle Englishwiten
  13. Englishwit
  14. English todayoutwit

From out- + wit.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.