Wits

How to spell wits

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce wits

What does wits mean?

1. nounThe mental faculties of clear thinking, alertness, and quick reasoning, especially under pressure.

Wits in a sentence

• She kept her wits about her when the alarm went off in the office.

• Quick wits and a calm voice helped him talk down the angry customer.

Where does wits come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English noun witt, which meant understanding, intelligence, or the very mind itself, and it is closely tied to the verb witan, meaning to know. The whole family is Germanic; related forms appear in Dutch and German, and the same ancient root for knowing surfaces in words like wise and the older idea of a wise person being one who knows. For centuries a single wit could mean any of the five physical senses, which is why the plural wits came to describe the alert mental faculties working together. The plural form survives mainly in fixed expressions about thinking clearly under pressure, such as keeping your wits about you or being scared out of your wits. The spelling is simple and phonetic; the only thing to remember is the plain plural -s on the short, single-t base word.

How the word is built

• wit (mental faculty, intelligence, from Old English witt)
• -s (plural)