sagacious

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sagāx (“of quick perception, acute”), stem sagāc-,^[2][3][4] with the ending -ious.^[4][5][6] Barnhart thinks it was probably formed in English as an adjective to the earlier noun sagacity, on the model of the Latin word,^[7] and Dictionary.com likewise forms it from that noun and -ous.^[8] The Latin adjective is related to sāgus (“prophetic”) and sāgiō (“to perceive keenly”),^[7][9] from the root Proto-Indo-European *sag- (“to track down, seek out”),^[9][10] which is also the source of seek.^{[9][10][2][11]} Etymonline notes that the word is not considered etymologically related to sage.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Acute in perception, especially by smell: 1607, in the dedicatory epistle of E. Topsell's Historie of Foure-footed Beastes.^[2][7][4] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was physical, and Weekley notes that the word was originally used of animals.^[12] The noun sagacity likewise meant a keen sense of smell from 1607 to 1798.^[2] Mental discernment appears in the adjective in 1650;^[2][7] the noun already had that sense in 1548.^[2] Johnson (1755) still put "quick of scent" first, quoting Milton's "sagacious of his quarry" and Dryden's "sagacious hounds", and gave "quick of thought" second.^[13] The sense of smell died out, the OED's last record being of 1733,^[2] while from 1759, in Goldsmith, the word could describe the intelligence of animals.^[2] Since 1831 it has also described a remark or action that shows good judgement.^[2]

Timeline

• 1607 – acute in perception, especially by smell (obsolete by 1733).^[2][7][4]
• 1650 – of people, gifted with acute mental discernment.^[2][7] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1640s.^[9]
• 1759 – of animals, intelligent.^[2]
• 1831 – of sayings or actions, showing acute discernment.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having keen discernment and sound judgement; wise, shrewd: a sagacious old diplomat.^[3][4][5][2]
2. Showing such judgement: a sagacious choice of partners.^[4][2]
3. Of animals: intelligent.^[2][6]
4. (obsolete, 1607–1733) Keen in the senses, especially in scent: a hound sagacious of the fox.^[4][2][14]

Word family

• sagaciously
• sagaciousness
• unsagacious

Related words

• sagacity
• seek
• presage
• sage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins