sapient

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The Word of the Day for January 12 is:=20

sapient   \SAY-pee-unt\   adjective
          : possessing or expressing great sagacity

Example sentence:
          "Confucius' sapient saying that 'in the middle lies the truth'=
 has an incontestable impact on China's thinking." (_Business Line_, Jan=
uary 26, 2001)

Did you know?
          Human beings certainly like to think they're wise, and, in fac=
t, the word "Homo sapiens" ("humankind") comes in part from the Latin wo=
rd "sapiens," meaning "wise" or "intelligent." "Sapiens" in turn comes f=
rom the verb "sapere," which means "to be wise" (and which also gave us =
"sage" and "savant"). "Sapiens" and "sapere" are also ancestors of our a=
djective "sapient," of course. "Sapient" came to us from Latin by way of=
 Middle French and has been used in English to mean "wise" since the 15t=
h century. Today, the word is often used ironically or poetically. It al=
so appears in scientific contexts with the meaning "possessing intellige=
nce," as in "the existence of sapient beings elsewhere in the universe i=
s one of the great questions that may be answered by further space explo=
ration."





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