English

Pronunciation
a|UK enPR|wĭt, IPA|/wɪt/, SAMPA|/wIt/
a|US enPR|wĭt, IPA|/wɪt/, SAMPA|/wIt/
audio|en-us-wit.ogg|Audio (US)
rhymes|ɪt

Homophones
whit i|in accents with the wine-whine merger

Etymology 1
From OE. term|witt|langang, from GEM. term||witjan|langgem, from IE. term||weid-, wid-|see, know|langine. Cognate with Dutch term|weet|langnl, German term|Witz|langde, and Swedish term|vett|langsv. Compare term|wise|lang=en.

Noun
en-noun

1. rfd-redundant (now usually in plural) One's mind or sense; sanity.

#:Have you completely lost your wits?

1. rfd-redundant archaic Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.

#:Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.

1. The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially wittiness.

#:My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.

1. rfd-redundant (obsolete except in set phrases) Intelligence; common sense.

#:The opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn't even have the wit to take it!

1. rfd-redundant Spoken humour, especially when clever or quick.

#:The best man's speech was hilarious, full of wit and charm.

1. rare|colloquial A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.

#:Your friend is quite a wit, isn't he?

Related terms
rel-top
have one's wits about one|have one�s wits about one
scare out of one's wits|scare out of one�s wits
rel-mid
witless
witling
rel-bottom

Translations
trans-top|Mind; sanity
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|Intellectual ability
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|Ability to think quickly
Finnish: t|fi|sukkeluus, t|fi|nokkeluus, t|fi|sutkaus
Spanish: t-|es|agudeza, t+|es|ingenio, t-|es|gracia
Italian: t+|it|arguzia, t+|it|genio
trans-mid
Portuguese: t-|pt|agudeza, t|pt|agudez
Romanian: t|ro|schepsis
Turkish: t|tr|nükte
trans-bottom

trans-top|Intelligence: see the translations given for intelligence#Translations|intelligence

trans-bottom

trans-top|Spoken humour, particularly that thought of quick
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes
trans-mid
trans-bottom

Etymology 2
From OE. term|witan|langang, from GEM. term||witanan|langgem, from IE. term||weid-, wid-|see, know|langine. Cognate with Dutch term|weten|langnl, German term|wissen|langde, Swedish term|veta|langsv, and Latin term|videre|vid�re|see|langla. Compare term|guide|langen.

Verb
wit

1. ambitransitive|chiefly|archaic rfquote-sense know|Know; be aware of i|construed with of when used intransitively.

#: I wot not what to.
#: You are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.
#: God wot�

! Present indicative
! Past indicative
|-
! First-person singular
| I wot
| I wist
|-
! Second-person singular
| thou wottest|wot(test) i|archaic, you wit
| thou wistest|wist(est) i|archaic, you wist
|-
! Third-person singular
| he wot, she wot, it wot
| he wist, she wist, it wist
|-
! First-person plural
| we wit
| we wist
|-
! Second-person plural
| ye wit i|archaic, you wit
| ye wist i|archaic, you wist
|-
! Third-person plural
| they wit
| they wist
|}
|}

Usage notes
As a preterite-present verb, the third-person singular indicative form is not term||wits|langen but term||wot|langen��; the plural indicative forms conform to the infinitive: term||we wit|langen, term||ye wit|langen, term||they wit|lang=en.

Derived terms
rel-top|Derived terms
to wit
rel-mid
unwitting
rel-bottom

Category:English homophones
Category:English irregular verbs
Category:English verbs

Dutch

Adjective
nl-adj|witte|witter|witst

1. white

#: De wand is wit.
#:: The wall is white.

Noun
nl-noun2|n|ten|je

1. uncountable white i|color

#: Wit is alle kleuren ineens.
#:: White is all colors at once.

1. countable A person with blond hair.

#: De Witte van Zichem.
#:: The blond boy from Zichem (a famous book).

Category:nl:Colors

Old English

Etymology
From GEM. term||wid-|langgem, from IE. term||wed-|langine, a suffixed form of term||wei-|langine (see term|we|w�|langang). Cognate with Old Norse term|vit|langnon, Gothic term|���|langgot, and Lithuanian term|vedu|vèdu|lang=lt.

Pronunciation
IPA|/wɪt/, SAMPA|/wIt/

Pronoun
wit personal

1. we#English|We two; nominative dual form of ic#Old English|i�.

Category:Old English pronouns

Old High German

Etymology
Common GEM. term||widaz, whence also Old English term|wid|wīd|langang and Old Norse term|víðr|langnon.

Adjective
wīt

1. wide|Wide.

Category:Old High German adjectives

af:wit
el:wit
es:wit
fr:wit
ko:wit
hy:wit
io:wit
id:wit
it:wit
ku:wit
li:wit
hu:wit
nl:wit
pl:wit
ru:wit
te:wit
vi:wit
tr:wit
zh:wit

• 2007-11-28 02:32 - Tbot - updated t/t-/t+ templates

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