# savvy

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈsæv.i/ · frequency rank #13,804

## Definitions
1. Shrewd, 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.

## Easily confused with
- **say** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/savvy-vs-say)
- **sav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sav-vs-savvy)
- **save** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/save-vs-savvy)
- **saved** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saved-vs-savvy)
- **sandy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sandy-vs-savvy)
- **sadly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sadly-vs-savvy)
- **saves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saves-vs-savvy)
- **sally** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sally-vs-savvy)
- **salty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salty-vs-savvy)
- **Sammy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sammy-vs-savvy)
- **saver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saver-vs-savvy)
- **sassy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sassy-vs-savvy)
- **Savoy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/savoy-vs-savvy)
- **savor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/savor-vs-savvy)
- **saucy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saucy-vs-savvy)
- **salvo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salvo-vs-savvy)
- **salve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salve-vs-savvy)
- **saggy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saggy-vs-savvy)
- **sappy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sappy-vs-savvy)
- **savin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/savin-vs-savvy)

## Common misspellings (6)
`asvvy`, `savvyy`, `savy`, `savyv`, `ssavvy`, `svavy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/savvy