savvy
/ˈsæv.i/
"savvy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“savvy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,804 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #13,804
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | savvy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsæv.i/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #13,804 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “savvy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for savvy is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsæv.i/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,804 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for savvy, with forms such as "asvvy", "savvyy", and "savy". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "say", "sav", "save", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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, “practi… The correct English form is savvy, spelled S-A-V-V-Y.
Definition
- 1Shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
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.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asvvy,savvyy,savy,savyv,ssavvy,svavy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of savvy - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “savvy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-V-V-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæv.i/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “say” - see the side-by-side comparison. savvy vs say
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.