wit
- n. 智慧;才智;智力
- n. (Wit)人名;(泰)威;(英、德、波)威特
- v. 知道;即
詞態(tài)變化
中文詞源
來自PIE*weid,看,知道,詞源同visit,wise。引申詞義見多思廣,智慧。
英英釋意
- 1. a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
- 2. mental ability;
- "he's got plenty of brains but no common sense"
- 3. a witty amusing person who makes jokes
英文詞源
- wit
- wit: Both the noun wit [OE] and the verb [OE] go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *woid-, *weid-, *wid-. This originally meant ‘see’, in which sense it has given English visible, vision, etc, but it developed metaphorically to ‘know’, and it is this sense that lies behind English wit. The noun to begin with denoted ‘mind, understanding, judgement, sense’ (a meaning preserved in expressions such as ‘keep one’s wits about one’ and ‘slow-witted’), and the modern sense ‘clever humorousness’ did not begin to emerge until the 16th century.
The verb has now virtually died out, except in the expression to wit. Witness is etymologically the state of ‘knowing’. Other English words that come from the same Indo-European base or its Germanic descendant include guide, history, idea, story, and twit.
=> guide, guise, history, idea, story, twit, vision, wise, witness - wit (n.)
- "mental capacity," Old English wit, witt, more commonly gewit "understanding, intellect, sense; knowledge, consciousness, conscience," from Proto-Germanic *wit- (cognates: Old Saxon wit, Old Norse vit, Danish vid, Swedish vett, Old Frisian wit, Old High German wizzi "knowledge, understanding, intelligence, mind," German Witz "wit, witticism, joke," Gothic unwiti "ignorance"), from PIE *weid- "to see," metaphorically "to know" (see vision). Related to Old English witan "to know" (source of wit (v.)). Meaning "ability to connect ideas and express them in an amusing way" is first recorded 1540s; that of "person of wit or learning" is from late 15c. For nuances of usage, see humor.
A witty saying proves nothing. [Voltaire, Diner du Comte de Boulainvilliers]
Witjar was old slang (18c.) for "head, skull." Witling (1690s) was "a pretender to wit."
Wit ought to be five or six degrees above the ideas that form the intelligence of an audience. [Stendhal, "Life of Henry Brulard"] - wit (v.)
- "to know" (archaic), Old English witan (past tense wast, past participle witen) "to know, beware of or conscious of, understand, observe, ascertain, learn," from Proto-Germanic *witan "to have seen," hence "to know" (cognates: Old Saxon witan, Old Norse vita, Old Frisian wita, Middle Dutch, Dutch weten, Old High German wizzan, German wissen, Gothic witan "to know"), from PIE *weid- (see wit (n.)). The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-French cestasavoir, used to render Latin videlicet (see viz.).
同義詞辨析
mind, intellect, intelligence, brains, wit, wisdom
這些名詞均有"智力,智慧"之意。
mind: 使用廣泛,無褒貶之意。強(qiáng)調(diào)諸如認(rèn)識(shí)、記憶、思考、決定等的智慧功能。
intellect: 側(cè)重不受感情或意志左右的冷靜思考或領(lǐng)悟能力。
intelligence: 指處理或?qū)Ω秵栴}或情況的特殊才智;也指運(yùn)用、展開智慧的能力。
brain(多用復(fù)數(shù)brains)強(qiáng)調(diào)理解能力和獨(dú)立的或者首創(chuàng)性的思維能力。
wit: 指先天的才能、智力、意識(shí)等,隱含小聰明意味。
wisdom: 較文雅,也可指明智的言行。
考試真題
- It's full of wit and humour.
2015年高考英語上海卷 閱讀理解 閱讀B 選項(xiàng)
- Facebook, therefore, is a self-enhancer's paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit, style, beauty, intellect and lifestyles.
2014年考研真題(英語二)閱讀理解 Section Ⅱ
詞組搭配
be at one's wits' end
be overwhelmed with difficulties and at a loss as to what to do next
茫然不知所措;智窮計(jì)盡
be frightened (或 scared) out of one's wits
be extremely frightened; be immobilized by fear
嚇得魂不附體
gather (或 collect) one's wits
allow oneself to think calmly and clearly in a demanding situation
鎮(zhèn)定下來
have (或 keep) one's wits about one
be constantly alert and vigilant
保持機(jī)警;保持頭腦冷靜
live by one's wits
earn money by clever and sometimes dishonest means, having no regular employment
靠耍花招騙人過日子
pit one's wits against
compete with (someone or something)
與(某人或物)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)
at (one's) wits' end
At the limit of one's mental resources; utterly at a loss.
智窮計(jì)盡;全然不知所措
have (one's) wits about (one) 或 keep (one's) wits about (one)
To remain alert or calm, especially in a crisis.
警覺:保持頭腦警覺或鎮(zhèn)靜,尤指在危機(jī)時(shí)刻
to wit
That is to say; namely.
也就是說;就是
實(shí)用場(chǎng)景例句
- to have a quick/sharp/dry/ready wit
- 才思敏捷;敏銳機(jī)智;假裝正經(jīng)的詼諧;頭腦機(jī)敏
牛津詞典
- a woman of wit and intelligence
- 才思敏捷、聰穎的女子
牛津詞典
- a book full of the wit and wisdom of his 30 years in politics
- 一本有關(guān)他30年政治生涯中才思與智慧的書
牛津詞典
- a well-known wit and raconteur
- 一位聞名遐邇、妙語連珠的故事大王
牛津詞典
- He needed all his wits to find his way out.
- 他需要絞盡腦汁找到出路。
牛津詞典
- The game was a long battle of wits .
- 這場(chǎng)游戲是長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的斗智。
牛津詞典
- Kate paused and gathered her wits .
- 凱特停下來恢復(fù)一下理智。
牛津詞典
- a chance to pit your wits against (= compete with, using your intelligence) our quiz champion
- 利用你的智慧同我們的知識(shí)競(jìng)賽冠軍進(jìn)行較量的機(jī)會(huì)
牛津詞典
- a quick-witted group of students
- 一群頭腦聰明的學(xué)生
牛津詞典
- At least you had the wit to ask for help.
- 你起碼還能意識(shí)到要求救。
牛津詞典
- It should not be beyond the wit of man to resolve this dispute.
- 解決這一糾紛應(yīng)當(dāng)是人力所能及的事。
牛津詞典
- Pilot error, to wit failure to follow procedures, was the cause of the accident.
- 飛行員的失誤,即沒有遵守操作程序,是事故的原因。
牛津詞典
- Boulding was known for his biting wit...
- 博爾丁愛說尖酸的俏皮話是出了名的。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- They love her practical attitude to life, her zest and wit.
- 他們喜歡她務(wù)實(shí)的人生態(tài)度、她的熱情和幽默。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- Holmes was gregarious, a great wit, a man of wide interests.
- 福爾摩斯愛交際,非常風(fēng)趣,興趣廣泛。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- The information is there and waiting to be accessed by anyone with the wit to use it.
- 資料就擺在那兒,等著有頭腦的人去利用。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- She has used her wits to progress to the position she holds today.
- 她憑借個(gè)人才智升到了今天的職位。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- You scared us out of our wits. We heard you had an accident.
- 你把我們嚇壞了,我們聽說你出事了。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- ...a huge bass drum which frightened the wits out of the organist each time it was banged.
- 每次敲起來都讓風(fēng)琴師驚慌失措的巨型低音鼓
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- Travellers need to keep their wits about them.
- 旅行者需要隨機(jī)應(yīng)變。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- We row a lot and we never have time on our own. I'm at my wit's end.
- 我們經(jīng)常爭(zhēng)吵,從無在一起的時(shí)間,我真是沒有辦法了。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- He has to pit his wits against an adversary who is cool, clever and cunning.
- 他不得不與一個(gè)冷靜、聰明而又狡猾的對(duì)手斗智。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- He'd like 'happiness' to be given a new and more scientifically descriptive label, to wit 'Major affective disorder, pleasant type'.
- 他想給“幸福”一個(gè)更為科學(xué)的新稱謂,準(zhǔn)確地說即“愉悅型重度情感障礙”。
柯林斯高階英語詞典
- Better a witty fool man than a foolish wit.
- 寧做聰明的傻子,不做愚蠢的聰明人.
《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》
- Boys gravitate towards girls at that age.
- 男孩們被大門口的女孩們吸引了.
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