wise
/waɪz/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.51 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Showing good judgement or the benefit of experience.
verb
To become wise.
verb
To instruct.
Example Sentences
- "Storing extra food for the winter was a wise decision."
- "They were considered the wise old men of the administration."
- "Don't get wise with me!"
- "Be careful: the boss is wise to your plan to call out sick."
- "Mo wised him up about his situation."
- "After Mo had a word with him, he wised up."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyd- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *wéydos Proto-Indo-European *weyd-s-ós Proto-Germanic *wīsaz Old English wīs Middle English wys, wyse English wise From Middle English wys, wyse, from Old English wīs (“wise”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz (“knowledgeable, wise”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéydos (“seeing; knowledge”), from *weyd- (“to see”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian wiis (“wise”), Dutch wijs (“wise”), German weis, weise (“wise”), Low German wies (“wise; clever”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vis (“wise”), Icelandic vís (“wise; certain”), Gothic *𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*weis, “wise”); also Irish fios (“knowledge; information”), Manx fys (“knowledge; information”), Scottish Gaelic fhios, fios (“knowledge; information”), Welsh gwys, gwŷs (“citation, summons”), Latin videō (“to look, perceive, see; to note, observe; to comprehend, understand”), Greek είδος (eídos, “form, kind, type”), Albanian vizë (“line, stripe, track; dash”), Latvian veids (“form, kind, mode, type”), Lithuanian veidas (“face; appearance, aspect, look”), Belarusian ве́даць (vjédacʹ, “to know”), Bulgarian вям (vjam, “to know”), Czech vědět (“to know”), Polish wiedzieć (“to know”), Russian ве́дать (védatʹ, “to know”), Serbo-Croatian vedeti, viedieti (“to know”), Slovak vedieť (“to know”), Slovene vedeti (“to know”), Ukrainian ві́дати (vídaty, “to know”), Armenian գիտեմ (gitem, “I know”), գիտենալ (gitenal), գիտնալ (gitnal, “to know”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬛 (vaēd, “find”), 𐬬𐬌𐬛 (vid, “to know”), Persian نوید (navid / nawīd, nuwēd, “invitation; annunciation; good news”), Tocharian A ime (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), Tocharian B īme (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), ūwe (“educated, learned, knowledgeable”), Sanskrit वेदस् (vedas, “knowledge, science; property, wealth”). Compare wit.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Colloquial
- Slang
- Archaic
- American usage
Inflected Forms
wiser (comparative)
more wise (comparative)
wisest (superlative)
most wise (superlative)
wize (alternative, obsolete)
wises (present, singular)
wising (participle, present)
wised (participle, past)
wised (past)
wises (plural)