savant
French, noun/sa.vɑ̃/
savant is spelled S-A-V-A-N-T (6 letters) and appears 5.2 times per million words in written French, the 10,846th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Savant is a French masculine noun meaning “scholar, scientist” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Homme savant, sait beaucoup en matière d’érudition ou de science”.
What does savant mean in English?
adjective
- 1
scholarly, scientific, learned
nom savant
- 2
clever, shrewd, skilful
savant mélange
- 3
performing, trained
singe savant
noun
- 1
masculinescholar, scientist
Near-synonym: érudit
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui sait beaucoup en matière d’érudition ou de science. 2. Qualifie les ouvrages où il y a de la science, de l’érudition. 3. Qui est bien informé de quelque affaire, qui est très habile en quelque chose. 4. Qualifie certains animaux dressé à certains exercices.
noun: 1. Homme savant, sait beaucoup en matière d’érudition ou de science. 2. Savant en us : personne pédante. 3. Personne qui par ses connaissances approfondies et ses recherches contribue à l’élaboration, au progrès d’une science, et plus spécialement d’une science expérimentale ou exacte ; grande personnalité du monde scientifique.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of savant
- savante feminine
- savants masculine plural
- savantes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce savant?
- /sa.vɑ̃/
- \sa.vɑ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to savant
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is savant in French?
savant appears 5.2 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).