savant

American  

[sa-vahnt, sav-uhnt, sa-vahn] / sæˈvɑnt, ˈsæv ənt, saˈvɑ̃ /

noun

plural

savants

1. a person of profound or extensive learning; learned scholar.

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savant British  

/ ˈsævənt, savɑ̃ /

noun

1. a man of great learning; sage

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Other Word Forms

• savante noun

Etymology

Origin of savant

1710–20; < French: man of learning, scholar, old present participle of savoir to know ≪ Latin sapere to be wise; sapient

Explanation

You know that girl in your school with a 4.0 GPA? She is a savant in the making. A savant is someone over-the-top smart, a scholar. It might take a savant only five minutes to do an entire math test. Savant is the French word for "learned" and it goes back to the Latin word sapere, "to be wise." In English, a savant can be someone is who is wise and learned in general, or someone who is extremely skilled in a particular area, like your little brother who can rattle off the first three hundred digits of pi.

Example Sentences

After all the gnashing riffs, Lauryn Hill sang a snatch of “Nothing Even Matters,” her tender 1998 duet with D’Angelo, the neo-soul savant who died in October.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

This hire is either a masterstroke that fuels the Trojans’ return to glory — or the point of no return for a head coach desperate to prove he’s not just a one-dimensional offensive savant.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2026

Young Jim showed an early gift for mathematics that bordered on savant territory.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025

He was a media savant who leveraged his views into the algorithms of young people, particularly men, who have been historically reluctant to engage in politics.

From Salon • Sep. 11, 2025

Evans, who has not met Sacks, laughs at the suggestion that he might be either autistic or a savant, but he is powerless to explain quite where his talent comes from.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson