Word
savvy
US/ˈsævi/
UK/sˈævi/
Definitions
01shrewd and well-informed
adj. having practical knowledge and making good judgments about a specific subject.
adj. possessing shrewdness and practical knowledge; often used in a specific domain to indicate competence and discernment.
“She is a savvy investor who always knows when to buy stocks.”
“The savvy marketing executive recognised that the campaign's success depended more on social media engagement than traditional television advertising.”
Informal
Usage
Commonly used in compound adjectives like 'tech-savvy' or 'media-savvy'.
03to understand
v. to understand or get the point of something.
v. to comprehend or understand; frequently used as a tag question to confirm the listener's understanding.
“We need to keep this a secret, savvy?”
“The captain explained the plan quickly and ended with a sharp 'savvy?' to ensure his crew was ready for the mission.”
Informal · Slang
Teaching tip
As a verb, this is often associated with pirate tropes or older slang; in modern speech, it is mostly used as a one-word question.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information.” “In the private sector, larger firms such as Kanematsu, a major general trading company, are hiring savvy graduates such as Uta Yamaguchi who joined in April.” Etymology
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/savvy