sapient
/ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.10 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Followed by of: aware or knowledgeable of.
adj
Of a lifeform or species: possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.
adj
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Homo sapiens (modern human beings).
noun
An intelligent, self-aware being.
Example Sentences
- "[To Edgar] Come ſit thou here moſt learned Iuſtice / [To the Fool] Thou ſapient ſir ſit here, […]"
- "Spot more delicious then thoſe Gardens feign’d / Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renovvnd / Alcinous, hoſt of old Laertes Son [Odysseus], / Or that, not Myſtic, vvhere the Sapient King [Solomon] / Held dalliance vvith his faire Egyptian Spouſe."
- "What is it but a vain and curious skill, / If sapient Germany must lie deprest, / Beneath the brutal sword?"
- "She had five or six cows; but it was observed by her sapient neighbours that she sold more butter every year than other farmers' wives who had twenty."
- "Another way my sapient Guide conduct me / Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; / And to a place I come where nothing shines."
- "Novv tell me, dignified and ſapient ſir, / My man of morals, nurtur'd in the ſhades / Of Academus, is this falſe or true?"
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sapient (“learned, wise”), from Old French sapient, or from its etymon Latin sapient-, a stem of sapiēns (“(adjective) discerning, judicious, wise; (noun) wise man, sage”), the present active participle of sapiō (“to have a flavour of, taste like; (figurative) to have good taste; to have discernment or sense; to be prudent, sensible, or wise”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”). Doublet of savant. The noun is derived from the adjective, and also influenced by Latin sapiēns (noun) (see above).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/
- British English: /ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/