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PlainSpell

wit

/wɪt/noun, verb, preposition

wit is spelled W-I-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “whit vs wit” about 90 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, wit means “Sanity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wit is wits.

How many letters and syllables are in wit?

Letters3: W-I-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is wit?

Wit appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce wit?

  • /wɪt/

As a preposition (“Pronunciation spelling of with”): /wɪt/, /wɪt/.

Wit has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wit.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with wit

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

whit vs wit90 G

Sounds like: whit (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of wit

  • wits plural
  • wot present, singular, he/she/it
  • wist past, singular, he/she/it, plural, participle
  • wost present, singular
  • wottest present, singular
  • wistest past, singular
  • witting participle, present

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does wit mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Sanity.

    He's gone completely out of his wits.

  2. 2

    The senses.

    Keep your wits about you.

  3. 3

    Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.

    Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.

  4. 4

    The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.

    My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.

  5. 5

    Intelligence; common sense.

    The opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn't even have the wit to take it!

  6. 6

    Humour, especially when clever or quick.

    The best man's speech was hilarious, full of wit and charm.

  7. 7

    A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.

    Your friend is quite a wit, isn't he?

verb

  1. 1

    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.

noun

as WIT
  1. 1

    AustraliaInitialism of waterfowl identification test.

preposition

  1. 1

    Pronunciation spelling of with.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Wit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanvon Sinnen, bei Sinnen (mind; sanity), Verstand, Intellekt (intellectual ability), Auffassungsgabe (Ability to think quickly), Witz (Spoken humour, particularly that thought of…)
Portuguesementalidade, sanidade (mind; sanity), intelectual, intelecto (intellectual ability), agudeza, agudez (Ability to think quickly)
Spanishcordura (mind; sanity), listeza (Ability to think quickly), chiste espontáneo, gracejo, donaire, donosura (Spoken humour, particularly that thought of…)
Frenchmot d'esprit (Spoken humour, particularly that thought of…), petit malin (A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does wit come from?

From Middle English wit, witt, wyt, from Old English witt (“mind, sanity, sense, understanding”), from Proto-West Germanic *witi, from Proto-Germanic *witją (“knowledge; reason; wit”), from Proto-Germanic *witaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *wóyde (“to know”), from *weyd- (“to see”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after wit