The Italian word for wisdom is saggezza (feminine, plural: saggezze). It is derived from the adjective saggio (meaning wise) and can be traced back to the Latin sapere (to know) via the French sage.
Learn with our video
The expression con saggezza (with wisdom) is often used with the verbs parlare (to speak), agire (to act), gestire (to deal with) and vivere (to live).
Il nuovo capo è molto giovane ma parla con saggezza.
The new boss is very young but he speaks with wisdom.
To say that someone is di grande saggezza is the equivalent of declaring them very wise.
La saggezza degli anziani is how you would say the wisdom of the elderly whereas la saggezza dei proverbi means the wisdom of proverbs.
In medical language, wisdom teeth can be referred to as either denti del giudizio (lit: judgement teeth) or more rarely, denti della saggezza.
Some common synonyms for saggezza include:
- ragionevolezza = reasonableness
- buonsenso = common sense
- giudizio / criterio = judgement
- senno = sense, judgement, wits
This article is also available in video format on our YouTube channel. The audio version can be found on Podbean, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast and Spotify.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
