Contextualizebeta

witty

adj
/ˈwɪti/UK/ˈwɪti/US

Etymology

From Middle English witty, witti, from Old English wittiġ, witiġ, ġewittiġ (“clever, wise”), from Proto-West Germanic *witīg, *witag, from Proto-Germanic *witagaz, *wītagaz (“knowing, wise, clever”), equivalent to wit + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German wittich, gewittich (“knowing, clever, wise, understanding”), German witzig (“funny, witty”), Norwegian Bokmål vettig, Norwegian Nynorsk vittig (“witty”).

  1. inherited from *witagaz✻
  2. inherited from *witīg✻
  3. inherited from wittiġ
  4. inherited from witty

Definitions

  1. Clever

    Clever; amusingly ingenious.

    • His speech was both witty and informative.

  2. Full of wit.

    • His frequent quips mark him as particularly witty.

  3. Quick of mind

    Quick of mind; insightful; in possession of wits.

    • She may have grown older, but she has grown no less witty.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Wise, having good judgement.

    2. Possessing a strong intellect or intellectual capacity

      Possessing a strong intellect or intellectual capacity; intelligent, skilful, ingenious.

      • It hath beene a witty invention[…]to establish and ordaine certaine vaine and worthles markes, therewith to honor and recompence vertue[…].

    3. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at witty. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01witty02possession03owned04owner05captain06army07force08active09quick

A definitional loop anchored at witty. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at witty

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA