astute

English

Etymology

From Latin astūtus, from astus (“craft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əsˈtjuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt

Adjective

astute (comparative astuter, superlative astutest)

1. Quickly and critically discerning.
2. Shrewd or crafty.

   astute analysis

   astute observation

   astute remark

   • 23 September 2014, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     The best headteachers are like submarine captains – cool-headed, astute decision-makers – who trust their colleagues and surroundings to indicate where their ship is headed.

Synonyms

• crafty, shrewd, wily, knowing

Derived terms

• astutely
• astuteness
• unastute

 

Translations

Quick at seeing how to gain advantage

• Afrikaans: skerpsinnig
• Arabic: دَاهٍ (dāhin) (indefinite), الدَّاهِي (ad-dāhī) (definite)
• Azerbaijani: dirigöz, diribaş, zirək
• Basque: azeri (eu)
• Bulgarian: хитър (bg) (hitǎr), проницателен (bg) (pronicatelen)
• Catalan: astut (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精明 (zh) (jīngmíng)

• Czech: prohnaný, mazaný, prozíravý (cs)
• Danish: dreven, kvik, skarpsindig
• Dutch: scherpzinnig (nl)
• Finnish: terävä (fi), neuvokas (fi)
• French: astucieux (fr), avisé (fr), sagace (fr)
• Frisian: skerpsinnig, listich
• German: gerissen (de), listig (de), scharfsinnig (de)
• Hungarian: ravasz (hu)
• Icelandic: slyngur, kænn (is), séður
• Irish: amhainseach (literary), amhnas (literary)
• Italian: avveduto (it)
• Japanese: 抜け目のない (ぬけめのない, nukemenonai)
• Macedonian: про́никлив (prónikliv), остро́умен (ostróumen), и́тар (ítar)
• Maori: mūrere, pūmahara, kokoi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dreven, kvikk, skarpsindig, listig, slu

• Polish: chytry (pl) m, przebiegły (pl) m
• Portuguese: astuto (pt)
• Russian: проница́тельный (ru) (pronicátelʹnyj), хи́трый (ru) (xítryj), сообрази́тельный (ru) (soobrazítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: astuto (es), sagaz (es), perspicaz (es)
• Swedish: skarpsinnig (sv), knipslug (sv), listig (sv), slug (sv)
• Tagalog: tuso
• Turkish: basiretli (tr), keskin zekâlı

Anagrams

• statue

Estonian

Verb

astute

1. Second-person plural present form of astuma.

Italian

Adjective

astute f pl

1. feminine plural of astuto

Anagrams

• statue

Latin

Adverb

astūtē (comparative astūtius, superlative astūtissimē)

1. craftily, cunningly, slyly

References

• “astute”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “astute”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• astute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.