different between pity vs witty

English

Alternative forms

• pittie, pitty, pitie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English pitye, pitie, pittye, pitee, pite, from Anglo-Norman pité, pittee etc., from Old French pitet, pitié, from Latin piet?s. See also the doublets pietà and piety.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?ti/
• Rhymes: -?ti

Noun

pity (countable and uncountable, plural pities)

1. (uncountable) A feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something.

   • He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

   • , Folio Society, 2006, p.5:

     The most usuall way to appease those minds we have offended […] is, by submission to move them to commiseration and pitty.

2. (countable) Something regrettable.

   • It was a thousand pities.

   • What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country!

3. (obsolete) Piety.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (mercy): ruth
• (something regrettable): shame

Translations

Verb

pity (third-person singular simple present pities, present participle pitying, simple past and past participle pitied)

1. (transitive) To feel pity for (someone or something). [from 15th c.]

   • Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

2. (transitive, now regional) To make (someone) feel pity; to provoke the sympathy or compassion of. [from 16th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.11:

     She lenger yet is like captiv'd to bee; / That even to thinke thereof it inly pitties mee.

   • a. 1681, Richard Allestree, Of Gods Method in giving Deliverance

     It pitieth them to see her in the dust.

Translations

Interjection

pity!

1. Short form of what a pity.

Synonyms

• shame, what a pity, what a shame

Translations

Derived terms

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?p?t?]

Verb

pity

1. inflection of pít:
   1. inanimate masculine plural passive participle
   2. feminine plural passive participle

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?it?/

Participle

pity

1. past passive participle of pi?

Declension

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?i.t?/

Participle

pity

1. masculine singular passive adjectival participle of pi?

Declension

Noun

pity f

1. inflection of pita:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

English

Etymology

From Middle English witty, witti, from Old English witti? (“clever, wise”), equivalent to wit +? -y,See Norwegian Bokmål vettig.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?w?ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?w?ti/, [?w??i]
• Rhymes: -?ti

Adjective

witty (comparative wittier, superlative wittiest)

1. (obsolete) Wise, having good judgement.

   • Then cam there a lady that was a wytty lady, and she seyde playnly unto the Kyng […] that he sholde never be hole but yf that Sir Trystrames wente into the same contrey than the venym came fro, and in that contrey sholde he be holpyn, other ellys never.

2. (archaic) Possessing a strong intellect or intellectual capacity; intelligent, skilful, ingenious.
3. Clever; amusingly ingenious.

4. Full of wit.

5. Quick of mind; insightful; in possession of wits.

Synonyms

• facetious
• humorous
• jocose
• jocular
• quick
• lively
• See also Thesaurus:witty

Translations