What does weet mean?
Weet is chiefly a Scots word meaning “to know” or “to understand.” Its familiar declaration “I weet” conveys that the speaker knows something, often with conviction or resignation: “I weet that is the last straw.” The word can also function as an adjective, as in “she was weet on the old songs,” where it means aware, familiar, or well informed. Although historically associated with Scottish and northern English speech, weet is now encountered mainly in literature, dialect writing, quotation, and language intended to evoke a Scottish setting. It is direct and economical, distinguishing it from the more neutral standard-English alternatives know and understand. For readers meeting it for the first time, the expression “I weet” is the clearest clue: it is an unmistakably Scottish way of saying “I know.”
To know or understand something.
"“I weet,” said he, “that something is amiss.”"
Chiefly Scottish and historically northern English; now mainly literary, dialectal, or archaizing.
Aware or knowledgeable, especially about a particular subject.
"The old fisherman was weet on every current in the loch."
Chiefly Scottish; commonly used predicatively and in the expression “weet on.”
In Scots, “I weet” does not mean “I meet”—it means “I know,” often with emphatic certainty.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weet
Weet developed in Scots and northern English from the Old English verb witan, meaning “to know,” through the northern Middle English forms associated with wit and wete. The modern Scots pronunciation reflects the vowel development of this northern form. Its cognates include German wissen, Dutch weten, and Icelandic vita, all belonging to the Germanic family of verbs expressing knowledge or awareness.
How weet is actually used
Weet is chiefly associated with Scots and Scottish English. In modern English it is usually literary, dialectal, archaic, or deliberately Scottish in flavor, although it remains readily intelligible. Its adjectival use is especially common in constructions such as “weet on,” meaning familiar with or knowledgeable about.
Easily confused with weet
In standard English, wheat is the cereal plant and its grain, whereas weet is chiefly a Scots word meaning “know” or “understand.”