savvy

The story

1. Latin · derived fromsapere“to taste; to know”
2. Portuguese · derived fromsabe“[she/he] knows”
3. English todaysavvy

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.

Words from the same roots