Wisdom is deep understanding of life, earned through years and mistakes. Great wisdom, words of wisdom, conventional wisdom.
It is knowing what to do rather than knowing facts, which is why it cannot be taught directly and why it is associated with age. Conventional wisdom means what everybody assumes, usually said before disputing it. Wisdom teeth are named for arriving late. Note that the -dom ending makes a state or condition.
1nounwisdomDeep understanding of life earned through experience.
“My grandmother's wisdom comes from a long and difficult life.”
wisdom is a kind of understanding.
Old English wisdom is wise plus -dom, an ending meaning state or condition. Freedom and kingdom use the same ending.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyd-
Proto-Germanic
*wīsadōmaz — wisdom
Proto-West Germanic
*wīsadōm
Old English
wīsdōm — wisdom
Middle English
wisdom
English, today
wisdom
From Middle English wisdom, from Old English wīsdōm (“wisdom”), from Proto-West Germanic wīsadōm, from Proto-Germanic wīsadōmaz (“wisdom”), corresponding to wise + -dom. Cognate with Scots wisdom, wysdom (“wisdom”), West Frisian wiisdom (“wisdom”), Dutch wijsdom (“wisdom”), German Weistum (“legal sentence”), Danish/Norwegian/Swedish visdom (“wisdom”), Icelandic vísdómur (“wisdom”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA