Whit or wit?
whit is a noun meaning “Whitsunday”; wit is a noun meaning “Sanity”. They sound the same (/wɪt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) wit is about 6.6 times as common as whit.
What is the difference between whit and wit?
| whit | wit | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, preposition | noun, verb, preposition |
| Meaning | Whitsunday The season of Whitsuntide | Sanity The senses To know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively) |
| Example | Holonyms: Pentecost, Whitsun, Whitsuntide, Whit (season) | He's gone completely out of his wits |
| Forms | whits | wits |
| Pronunciation | /wɪt/ /ʍɪt/ | /wɪt/ |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words | 9.1 times per million words |
Sources: whit and wit in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of whit and wit
whit
- 1
datedThe smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota
- 2
Pronunciation spelling of with
- 3
Whitsunday
Holonyms: Pentecost, Whitsun, Whitsuntide, Whit (season)
- 4
The season of Whitsuntide
Meronyms: Pentecost, Whitsun, Whit (day)
wit
- 1
Sanity
He's gone completely out of his wits
- 2
To know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively)
You committed terrible actions – to wit, murder and theft – and should be punished accordingly
- 3
Pronunciation spelling of with
- 4
Abbreviation of witness
- 5
AustraliaInitialism of waterfowl identification test
- 6
Pronunciation spelling of with
- 7
The senses
Keep your wits about you
- 8
Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning
Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, whit or wit?
whit appears 1.4 times per million words; wit 9.1 times per million words.
whit 1.4 times per million wordswit 9.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search whit vs wit?
“whit vs wit” is searched about 90 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“wit vs whit”, “whit or wit”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.