Wiktionary

savvy

English

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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savvy (comparative savvier, superlative savviest)

  1. (informal) Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
    • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club‎[1], archived from the original on 24 March 2012:
      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.
    • 2026 August 19, Andy Mellors talks to Helen Nugent, “The RAIL Interview”, in RAIL, number 1068, page 28:
      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.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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savvy (third-person singular simple present savvies, present participle savvying, simple past and past participle savvied)

  1. (informal) To understand.

Translations

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Noun

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savvy (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Shrewdness.
    Synonym: savviness

References

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Chinese Pidgin English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Macau Pidgin Portuguese 撒㗑 (saat3 baai3), 撒備 (saat3 bi6), 散拜 (saan2 baai3), from Portuguese sabe. Compare Macanese sábi.

Verb

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savvy

  1. to know
    • 1860, The Englishman in China, London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., page 44:
      My no sarby.
      I don’t know.
  2. to understand

References

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  • Gow, W. S. P. (1924), Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 108: “Savvy: (Portuguese) know; understand; No savvy ? Do you not understand ?”
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