wise

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wise¹

  • /waɪz/

Sounds like whys, wyes, Ys, why's · Rhymes with -aɪz

Where it comes from

From Middle English wys, wyse, from Old English wīs (“wise”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz (“knowledgeable, wise”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéydos (“seeing; knowledge”), from *weyd- (“to see”).

Cognates

Cognate with West Frisian wiis (“wise”), Dutch wijs (“wise”), German weis, weise (“wise”), Low German wies (“wise; clever”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vis (“wise”), Icelandic vís (“wise; certain”), Gothic *𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*weis, “wise”); also Irish fios (“knowledge; information”), Manx fys (“knowledge; information”), Scottish Gaelic fhios, fios (“knowledge; information”), Welsh gwys, gwŷs (“citation, summons”), Latin videō (“to look, perceive, see; to note, observe; to comprehend, understand”), Greek είδος (eídos, “form, kind, type”), Albanian vizë (“line, stripe, track; dash”), Latvian veids (“form, kind, mode, type”), Lithuanian veidas (“face; appearance, aspect, look”), Belarusian ве́даць (vjédacʹ, “to know”), Bulgarian вям (vjam, “to know”), Czech vědět (“to know”), Polish wiedzieć (“to know”), Russian ве́дать (védatʹ, “to know”), Serbo-Croatian vedeti, viedieti (“to know”), Slovak vedieť (“to know”), Slovene vedeti (“to know”), Ukrainian ві́дати (vídaty, “to know”), Armenian գիտեմ (gitem, “I know”), գիտենալ (gitenal), գիտնալ (gitnal, “to know”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬛 (vaēd, “find”), 𐬬𐬌𐬛 (vid, “to know”), Persian نوید (navid / nawīd, nuwēd, “invitation; annunciation; good news”), Tocharian A ime (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), Tocharian B īme (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), ūwe (“educated, learned, knowledgeable”), Sanskrit वेदस् (vedas, “knowledge, science; property, wealth”). Compare wit.

adjective wiser · more wise · wisest · most wise · wize

  1. Showing good judgement or the benefit of experience. Storing extra food for the winter was a wise decision.

    Similar: hot · Opposite: improvident

  2. colloquial, ironic, sarcastic Disrespectful. Don't get wise with me!
  3. colloquial Aware, informed (to something). Be careful: the boss is wise to your plan to call out sick.

Similar: astute, clairvoyant, deep, frood, grounded, judicious, oracular, perspicacious, politic, profound, prudent, quick-witted, reasonable, sagacious, sage, sapient, sensible, wise, witful · Opposite: unwise, foolish

verb wises · wising · wised · wize

  1. To become wise.
  2. ergative, slang Usually with "up", to inform or learn. Mo wised him up about his situation.

wise²

  • /waɪz/

Sounds like whys, wyes, Ys, why's · Rhymes with -aɪz

Where it comes from

From Middle English wise, from Old English wīse, from Proto-Germanic *wīsō. Cognate with Dutch wijze, German Weise, Norwegian vis, Swedish visa, vis, Italian guisa, Spanish guisa. Compare -wise. Doublet of guise.

noun wises

  1. archaic Way, manner, or method. In such wise that all the beasts, great and small, came to the court save Reynard the Fox.

wise³

  • /waɪz/

Sounds like whys, wyes, Ys, why's · Rhymes with -aɪz

Where it comes from

From Middle English wisen (“to advise, direct”), from Old English wisian (“to show the way, guide, direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīsōn, from Proto-Germanic *wīsōną (“to show the way, dispense knowledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know”).

Compare Dutch wijzen (“to indicate, point out”), German weisen (“to show, indicate”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål vise (“to show”), Norwegian Nynorsk visa (“to show”).

verb wises · wising · wised

  1. dialectal To instruct.
  2. dialectal To advise; induce.
  3. dialectal To show the way, guide.
  4. dialectal To direct the course of, pilot.
  5. dialectal To cause to turn.

Wise⁴

  • /waɪz/

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. A township in Isabella County, Michigan, United States.
  3. An unincorporated community in Warren County, North Carolina, United States.
  4. A town, the county seat of Wise County, Virginia, United States.

WISE⁵

proper noun

  1. US, abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (“a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope that performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3-22 μm wavelength bands”).

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: well-advised, sensible, prudent, judicious, considered, knowing, sagacious, advised, informed, sapient, sage, perspicacious, method, all-knowing, omniscient, statesmanly

Translations

Every language

adj showing good judgement

Españolsabio, juicioso, sapiente
한국어현명하다 hyeonmyeonghada, 명철하다 myeongcheolhada, 지혜롭다 jihyeropda, 슬기롭다 seulgiropda
日本語賢い kashikoi, 賢明な kenmei na
中文明智 míngzhì, 英明 yīngmíng, 高明 gāomíng, 聰明 /聪明 cōngming
हिन्दीबुद्धिमान buddhimān, सयाना sayānā
Kiswahili-staarabu
Portuguêssábio, sensato
Françaissage
Deutschweise, klug
Italianosaggio
Ελληνικάσοφός sofós
Românăcu scaun la cap, înțelept
Русскийму́дрый múdryj, у́мный úmnyj, разу́мный razúmnyj
Tiếng Việtkhôn
العربيةحَكِيم ḥakīm, فَطِن faṭin, فَطُن faṭun, عَاقِل ʕāqil
עבריתחָכָם khakhám

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MLA

"wise." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wise. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

wise. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wise

Chicago

"wise." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wise.

BibTeX
@misc{wise_2026,
  title = {wise},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wise},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}