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English
Etymology
From Middle English sapient, from Old French sapient, or its source, Latin sapiēns. Doublet of savant.
Pronunciation
Adjective
sapient (comparative more sapient, superlative most sapient)
- Attempting to appear wise or discerning.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wise
1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse:"... A man would blush to say to himself in the darkness of the night the things he stands up on a platform in the garish light of day to stuff into the ears of a multitude whose intelligence he pretends that he esteems.... Therefore, why be sapient and solemn about it, like an editorial in a newspaper?" Nick added, with a smile.
2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 217:In Europe I had been told by sapient academics that there wasn't really any class system in the United States: well, you couldn't prove that by the conditions in California's agribusinesses, or indeed its urban factories.
- (dated) Possessing wisdom and discernment; wise, learned.
1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 439–443:Spot more delicious then thoſe Gardens feign’d / Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renownd / Alcinous, hoſt of old Laertes Son, / Or that, not Myſtic, where the Sapient King / Held dalliance with his faire Egyptian Spouſe.
- 1839, "Bewitched Butter" in W. B. Yates (ed.), Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (1892), Barnes & Noble, 2009, p. 295,
- She had five or six cows; but it was observed by her sapient neighbors that she sold more butter every year than other farmers' wives who had twenty.
- (chiefly science fiction) Of a species or life-form, possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.
- Synonyms: sentient; see also Thesaurus:self-aware
1935 February, Bob Olsen, “Who Deserves Credit?”, in Amazing Stories, volume 9, number 10, page 81:When EXPLORATION blazed through space / The first sky-trail to far-flung stars, / And found men, sapient, on Mars, / He gained renown's most honored place.
1962 January, Henry Beam Piper, “Naudsonce”, in Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction, volume 68, number 5, page 9:It was inhabited by a sapient humanoid race, and some of them were civilized enough to put it in Class V, and Colonial Office doctrine on Class V planets was rigid.
1970, Larry Niven, Ringworld, page 72:Nessus had not spoken mockingly; but Speaker reacted with rage. “What sapient being would not fear such power?”
Coordinate terms
Translations
possessing wisdom and discernment
References
- Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sapient”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 169.
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2025), “sapient adj.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
Noun
sapient (plural sapients)
- (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware being.
1960, Philip José Farmer, A Woman a Day, page 30:It seemed to him a possibility that the Cold War Corps of March might have contacted hitherto unknown sapients on some just discovered interstellar planet.
Synonyms
References
- Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sapient”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 169.
- Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2025), “sapient n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “sapient”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Latin
Verb
sapient
- third-person plural future active indicative of sapiō
Old French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sapiēns. Compare savant.
Adjective
sapient m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sapient or sapiente)
- wise; sapient
Declension
Descendants
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sapiēns, sapientis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
sapient m or n (feminine singular sapientă, masculine plural sapienți, feminine and neuter plural sapiente)
- (rare) learned, wise
- Synonyms: înțelept, savant, învățat, doct, erudit
Declension