Witty
adjectiveShowing quick, clever, and amusing intelligence, especially in speech or writing.
How to spell witty
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce witty
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does witty mean?
- adjectiveShowing quick, clever, and amusing intelligence, especially in speech or writing.
Witty in a sentence
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Her witty remarks kept the whole meeting in good humour.
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The columnist is known for a witty and biting style.
Where does witty come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word grows from the native Old English noun witt, which meant the mind, understanding, or the faculty of knowing, and is related to the verb witan, 'to know'. The adjective form witig, meaning 'wise', 'clever', or 'knowing', existed well before the Norman Conquest and gradually narrowed in sense. For centuries 'witty' simply praised someone for being intelligent or shrewd, but by the 1500s the modern flavour took over: it came to describe a sharp, amusing cleverness with words. The same wit root survives in everyday companions such as 'wisdom', 'wise', and the phrase 'to wit'. The spelling trap is the doubled t, which appears because a single consonant after a short vowel doubles when the -y suffix is added.
How the word is built
- wit (mind, cleverness, from Old English witt)
- -y (adjective suffix), with the final t doubled before the suffix
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