Etymograph

English

witty

Witty comes from Old English wittiġ ‘clever, wise’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyd-1‘to see’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*witagaz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*witīg1‘having knowledge, clever, wise’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wittiġ1‘clever, wise’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500witty1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603witty1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English witty
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “It hath beene a witty invention[…]to establish and ordaine…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyd-Wiktionary, English witty‘to see’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*witagazWiktionary, English wittyreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*witīgWiktionary, English witty‘having knowledge, clever, wise’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wittiġWiktionary, English witty‘clever, wise’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wittyWiktionary, English witty
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603wittyWiktionary, English witty. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “It hath beene a witty invention[…]to establish and ordaine…”

Formed from wit + -y

Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to see’

…

Proto-Germanic *witją ‘knowledge’

Proto-West Germanic *witi ‘knowledge’

Old English witt ‘mind, sanity, sense, understanding’

Middle English wit ‘mind, sanity’

English wit

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to see’

story, video, guy, idea, provide, evidence, review, advice, interview, guide, visit, vision, historic, wise, visa, advise, invisible, witness, wisdom, evident, idol, historian, vista, wizard, revise, guise, visibility, prudent, steroid, tabloid, envious, wit, jurisprudence, prudence, revue, improvise, druid, vide, avis, purview, 119 more

Today it means

adj Clever; amusingly ingenious.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “witty”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weyd- / witty

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