Make Your Point: SAVANT

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pronounce SAVANT:

suh VONT

connect this word to others:

Savant belongs to a family of words that come from sapere, a Latin word for "to have wisdom or taste."

That sapere family also includes these words:

1. Sap___ce is the power to understand things deeply or use very good judgment.

2. Sav___-f___e is the ability to say and do the right thing at the right time in social situations.

3. Sa__s are people person who are deeply wise, with good judgment that comes from lots of experience in life.

4. I_sip__ things are stupid or tasteless.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Savant" traces back through French to the Latin sapere, meaning "to be wise, or to have good taste."

Since the 1700s, we've used "savant" in English as a scholarly, sophisticated-sounding word for "someone with a great deal of artistic or academic knowledge and achievement."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "Ken Jennings is a trivia savant;" "Steve Jobs, the late Apple savant" (The Guardian); "This is sure to impress the musical theater savants."

Other forms:

The plural noun is "savants."

The noun for the idea or the quality of having a great deal of artistic or academic knowledge and achievement is "savantism."

And there's a rare female form, "savante," pronounced "sah VON t(uh)." I don't recommend using it. To my ear, it sounds pretentious, like other female versions (e.g., "authoress" for "author") of perfectly serviceable gender-neutral words.

how to use it:

When you want a formal, serious, semi-common word for a genius who's particularly accomplished in their field, call them a savant.

You might specify what kind of savant someone is: maybe a mathematical savant, a political savant, or a musical savant.

(A savant is typically accomplished only within their own specific field. If you want a word for someone accomplished in many fields, how about "polymath"?)

We should note that some people say "savant" when they mean "idiot savant: someone with both an incredible, highly specific talent as well as a significant mental or social impairment." I don't recommend using "savant" this way, because it's unclear. However, thanks to the popularity of that phrase "idiot savant," you can add a little twist to your turn of phrase by using "savant" postpositively, as in "a poet savant" (Washington Post), and it still sounds correct.

examples:

"Most Oscar watchers predict seven or eight movies will make the cut... According to these savants, the most notable snub-ee will be The Tree of Life, which was not one of the 10 finalists chosen by the Producer Guild."
— Richard Corliss, Time, 10 January 2012

"[Kurt Wagner] had a job laying wooden floors even after Lambchop became successful! He wears caps advertising agricultural produce! He's from the south! He must be some sort of redneck savant! Why else would he produce these wistful, shy songs, melding lush 70s-style soul to American roots music?"
— Michael Hann, The Guardian, 9 February 2012

has this page helped you understand "savant"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "savant" without saying "genius" or "prodigy."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) is a (certain type of) savant, (doing something extraordinary)."

Example 1: "Elton John is a musical savant, turning lyrics into gorgeous melodies in ten or fifteen minutes, a skill he once demonstrated in front of a live studio audience by melodizing the instructions to someone's new oven."

Example 2: "[Keith Haring] was a social-media savant in a Xerox and Polaroid age, distributing his art in the form of buttons, fliers and graffiti."
— Karen Rosenberg, New York Times, 22 March 2012

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Just Joshing: John Oliver Edition!

Flex your creativity and word-finding skills as you fill in the blanks to create your own joke, following the example of the comedian John Oliver. Since the LOLs are in the details, try making your joke as specific (or weird) as possible.

For example, if I give you "The only things you should be buying on eBay are _____ and _____," then you might give me "The only things you should be buying on eBay are pieces of gum chewed by Elvis and unassembled snowmen." (Oliver's actual joke was "The only things you should be buying on eBay are vintage RadioShack swag and a discarded e-meter from the Church of Scientology.")

Try this one today; it's in response to a Facebook executive saying "We relied on what we thought were the public's common sense and common decency to police the site:"

"You did, did you? I'd say that was adorable, but frankly, I would be embarrassed to go on Frontline and confess that everyone working at Facebook shared a level of wide-eyed naïveté that can only be described as 'full-blown _____.'"

To see my crack at it, as well as Oliver's original joke, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. Opposites of SAVANT include

A. JOCK and GYM BRO.
B. ARTIST and ARTISAN.
C. DIMWIT and AMATEUR.

2. Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (1849-1908) was a savant, _____.

A. a highly accomplished pianist and composer
B. the author of a few semiautobiographical works
C. an outlaw known for kidnapping and bank robbery

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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