sapient
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L340118 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/ / /ˈsæ-/
adj
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sapient (“learned, wise”), from Old French sapient, or from its etymon Latin sapient-, a stem of sapiēns (“(adjective) discerning, judicious, wise; (noun) wise man, sage”), the present active participle of sapiō (“to have a flavour of, taste like; (figurative) to have good taste; to have discernment or sense; to be prudent, sensible, or wise”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”). Doublet of savant. The noun is derived from the adjective, and also influenced by Latin sapiēns (noun) (see above).
- Possessing discernment and wisdom; learned, wise.
“[To Edgar] Come ſit thou here moſt learned Iuſtice / [To the Fool] Thou ſapient ſir ſit here, […]”
“Spot more delicious then thoſe Gardens feign’d / Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renovvnd / Alcinous, hoſt of old Laertes Son [Odysseus], / Or that, not Myſtic, vvhere the Sapient King [Solomon] / Held dalliance vvith his faire Egyptian Spouſe.”
- Attempting to appear discerning or wise.
“Novv tell me, dignified and ſapient ſir, / My man of morals, nurtur'd in the ſhades / Of Academus, is this falſe or true?”
“VVell! but a leſſening of prodigal expences, and the œconomy vvhich has been introduced by the virtuous and ſapient aſſembly, makes amends for the loſſes ſuſtained in the receipt of revenue.”
- Followed by of: aware or knowledgeable of.
- Of a lifeform or species: possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.
“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.”
“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.”
- Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Homo sapiens (modern human beings).
- Having a (good) flavour or taste; sapid.
noun
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sapient (“learned, wise”), from Old French sapient, or from its etymon Latin sapient-, a stem of sapiēns (“(adjective) discerning, judicious, wise; (noun) wise man, sage”), the present active participle of sapiō (“to have a flavour of, taste like; (figurative) to have good taste; to have discernment or sense; to be prudent, sensible, or wise”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”). Doublet of savant. The noun is derived from the adjective, and also influenced by Latin sapiēns (noun) (see above).
- A wise person; a sage.
“"She canna do that," said another sapient of the same profession— […]”
- An intelligent, self-aware being.
“Every since Trausti had shown him the X-rays, Leif had a theory that Halla Dannto was of non-Earth origin. 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, and were using them in the cold war against the Jacks.”
- A human being of the species Homo sapiens.