SAVVY

PRONUNCIATION: (SAV-ee)

MEANING: verb: To understand or know.
noun: Know-how, practical knowledge, or shrewdness.
adjective: Shrewd or knowledgeable, especially in practical matters.

ETYMOLOGY: Via pidgin and/or creole language(s), from Portuguese and/or Spanish sabe (do you know?), from Latin sapere (to be wise). Ultimately from the Indo-European sep- (to taste or perceive), which also gave us sage, savant, savor, sapid, sapient, resipiscent, insipid, and sipid. Earliest documented use, verb: 1686, noun: 1785, adjective: 1826.
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LAVVY - smelling like a washroom

SAVY (rhymes with "Navy") - inclined to rescue things

SAVOY - theatrical, especially with light opera

SALVY - unguental