Etymologically
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witty

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwɪti/[1]
  • US: /ˈwɪti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English witti, also witi,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English wittig, also witig and gewittig,[5][2][3] formed from witt (“intellect, mind”) and the adjective suffix -ig, the ancestors of wit and -y.[5][6][7][8] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *witagaz (“knowing, wise”),[1][9] and is cognate with Old Saxon wittig,[10] Middle Low German wetig,[5] Old High German wizzīg, wizzic and German witzig (“witty”),[5][6] and Old Norse vitugr.[5][6][10] Köbler traces the Germanic adjective to the Indo-European root for "to see, to know" (Pokorny's *u̯eid-).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wise, having wisdom: in Old English, where it was said of God in Beowulf and meant "clever, intelligent" in Aldhelm glosses;[5][6] Etymonline gives the Old English senses "clever, wise, sagacious; in one's right mind".[2]

Semantic evolution

All the original senses of the word, which went with the old meaning of wit, "mind, intellect", are now obsolete or dialectal.[2][5] In Middle English witty meant wise, prudent and sensible (from 1340, in Rolle's Prick of Conscience), knowing or learned, and endowed with reason, and it was a fixed epithet of Solomon.[5][4] By the early 15th century it could also mean "crafty, cunning", a use that lasted into the early 18th century,[2][5][7] and Middle English had all-witty, "omniscient".[2] From about 1400 the word described clever or ingenious speech and writing,[5] which led in the late 16th century (the 1580s, according to Etymonline) to the modern sense, "given to saying sparklingly clever and amusing things".[2][7][10] Johnson (1755) still defined it first as "judicious; ingenious", then as "full of imagination".[11] The older sense "intelligent, sensible, shrewd" survived in the dialects of Scotland and several English counties, from Yorkshire to Devon.[12][13]

Timeline

  • Old English – wittig, wise, said of God; clever, intelligent.[5][6]
  • a. 1225 – having knowledge, learned (obsolete by 1485).[5]
  • c. 1300 – endowed with reason, rational.[5]
  • 1340 – of people, wise, prudent, sensible (obsolete by 1611).[5][6]
  • a. 1400 – clever or ingenious in conception or expression.[5]
  • c. 1400 – all-witty, omniscient.[2]
  • a. 1425 – crafty, cunning (obsolete by 1706).[5][2]
  • 1580s – full of sparkling wit, cleverly amusing.[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Showing or full of clever humour; cleverly amusing: a witty reply.[13][14][7]
  2. Quick to say clever and amusing things; fond of making witticisms.[7][14]
  3. (archaic or dialect) Intelligent, clever or sensible.[13][7][12]

Word family

  • wittily
  • wittiness
  • witticism

Usage notes

In Norfolk dialect a separate adjective witty meant "very small".[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster