Witty

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈwɪti/

Definitions

1. Characterized by clever humor and quick, intelligent remarks that amuse others
2. Marked by the ability to express humor through cleverness and quickness of thought, providing amusement to those around
3. Demonstrating a keen sense of humor through clever remarks and quick-witted responses that entertain an audience

Etymology: The surprise here is how far "witty" has drifted from its roots. In Old English, "wittiġ" meant simply "clever" or "wise," describing someone who had good understanding and sound judgement. The "wit" it grows from is the old word for mind or knowing, the same sense that survives in "to wit," meaning "that is to say." Nothing in the early word pointed toward jokes. The shift to humour came later. Over the centuries, "wit" itself moved from general intelligence toward quick, sharp mental agility, and then toward the playful cleverness of a well-turned remark. "Witty" followed that path, so that a wise person became someone who could make a clever joke. The adjective is built from "wit" plus the suffix "-y," a common English ending that turns a noun into an adjective meaning "having or full of" the noun's quality. The same pattern gives us "snowy" and "bloody." German "witzig," meaning "funny," shows the same semantic narrowing toward humour, while related forms in other Germanic languages kept the older sense of "knowing" or "wise."

Synonyms: humorous, clever, funny, sharp, smart

Antonyms: dull, stupid, unfunny, boring, pedantic