savvy

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 8, 2021 is: savvy \SAV-ee\ verb

: to [understand](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/understand)

Examples:

"The agency's Denver office sent Siringo, who savvied some Spanish, to Santa Fe." — Ollie Reed Jr., The Albuquerque (New Mexico) Tribune, 30 June 2001

"And kudos to Stan for the sensitivity. Savvying the tension between Ted and Peggy, Stan offers a sincere, '[Buck](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buck#h2) up chief.'" — [Marisa Nadolny, The Day (New London, Connecticut), 18 Apr. 2014](https://www.theday.com/article/20140414/INTERACT010316/140419889)

Did you know?

While the [noun savvy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savvy#h2), meaning "practical know-how" (as in "her political savvy"), and the [adjective use](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savvy#h1) (as in "a savvy investor") are more common, the verb savvy is the oldest of the trio. (If you associate it with Captain Jack Sparrow of the [Pirates of the Caribbean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiratesoftheCaribbean(filmseries)) franchise, you'll be pleased to know his use—as in, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"—is not anachronistic; the verb was the only savvy option extant in the movies' early 18th-century setting.) Current evidence dates the verb savvy to the late 17th century, when English speakers altered a word—sabi, meaning "know"—they were hearing in English-based creoles and pidgins (a [pidgin](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pidgin) is a simplified language or dialect that speakers of different languages use to communicate with one another; a [creole](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creole#h2) is a language that evolves from a pidgin to become a native language for a speech community). Sabi has its roots in Portuguese sabe, meaning "he knows," and it ultimately comes from Latin sapere, meaning "to be wise."