Savvy Definition

săvē

savvied, savvier, savvies, savviest, savvying

adjective

savvier, savviest

Shrewd or discerning.

Webster's New World

Knowledgeable or proficient. Often used in combination.

Tech-savvy; media-savvy.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

noun

Shrewdness or understanding.

Webster's New World

Know-how.

Webster's New World

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

verb

savvied

To understand; comprehend.

American Heritage

To understand; get the idea.

Webster's New World

(informal) To understand.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

interjection

(informal) Do you understand?

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Savvy

Base Form:

savvy

Comparative:

savvier

Superlative:

savviest

1785, as a noun, "practical sense, intelligence;" also a verb, "to know, to understand;" West Indies pidgin borrowing of French savez(-vous) (“do you know")" or Spanish sabe (usted) (“you know"), both from Vulgar Latin *sapere, from Latin sapere (“be wise, be knowing") (see sapient). The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.

From Wiktionary
From Spanish sabe (usted) (you) know from saber to know from Old Spanish from Vulgar Latin sapēre from Latin sapere to be wise sep- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Alteration of save, sabi (“know") (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese or Spanish sabe (“[he] knows"), from saber (“to know"), from Latin sapere (“to be wise").

From Wiktionary