savvy

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The Word of the Day for September 1 is:

savvy   \SAV-ee\   verb
     : understand

Example sentence:
     Although I savvied little Spanish, I could hear the urgency in the woman's 
voice and immediately sought a translator.

Did you know?
     You may be familiar with the noun "savvy," meaning "practical know-how" 
(as in "he has political savvy"), and the adjective use (as in "a savvy 
investor"). And if you've seen the blockbuster movie _Pirates of the 
Caribbean_, you also know that the verb is often used as an informal, one-word 
question meaning "Do you understand?" (as in "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. 
Savvy?"). But Jack Sparrow (i.e., Johnny Depp) didn't invent the term. Both the 
noun and the verb came into use around 1785. "Savvy" is based on the Portuguese 
term "sabe," meaning "he knows," which itself is from Latin "sapere," meaning 
"to be wise." Creole speakers interpreted the Portuguese term as "sabi" and 
began using it as one would "know." Eventually, the Creole's "sabi" evolved 
into today's word. 




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