Meaning

noun a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

noun mental ability

noun a witty amusing person who makes jokes

originFrom Middle English witen, woten, from Old English weotan, witan, from Proto-West Germanic *witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *wóyde (“to know”), from *weyd- (“to see”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian waase, wed, weet (“to know”), Saterland Frisian wíete (“to know”), West Frisian wite, witte (“to know”), Alemannic German wüsse (“to know”), Cimbrian…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0