say
/seɪ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.89 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To pronounce.
Transitive verb
verb
To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Please say your name slowly and clearly."
- "Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance?"
- "Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer."
- "He said he would be here tomorrow."
- "The note I think he said she wrote is nowhere to be found."
- "No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait."
Etymology
From Middle English saien, sain, san, secgan, segen, seien, sein, seiȝen, sugen, sægen, ziggen, from Old English seċġan, secgean, secggan, secggean, seggan, sæċġan (“to say, speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną (“to say”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-h₁-yé-, a suffixed o-grade form of *sekʷ- (“to say”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sai, seede, sii, sjide, sooi, säie (“to say”), West Frisian sizze (“to say”), Alemannic German ŝchége, ŝchegi, séege, säge, sägä (“to say”), Bavarian sogn, soon, sågn (“to say”), Dutch zeggen (“to say”), German sagen (“to say”), Low German seggen (“to say, tell”), Luxembourgish soen (“to say”), Vilamovian ziöen, zuön, zuø̄n (“to say”), Yiddish זאָגן (zogn, “to say”), Danish sige (“to say”), Elfdalian saja (“to say”), Faroese siga (“to say”), Icelandic segja (“to say”), Jamtish segi (“to say”), Norwegian Bokmål si (“to say”), Norwegian Nynorsk segja, seia, seie (“to say, tell”), Scanian siğa (“to say”), Swedish säga (“to say”); also Cornish hwedhel (“narrative, story, tale”), Irish scéal (“story, tale”), Manx skeeal (“story; news; narrative”), Scottish Gaelic sgeul (“story, tale; information, news”), Welsh chwedl (“story, tale”), hebu (“to say”), Latin inquam (“to say”), Ancient Greek ἐνέπω (enépō), ἐννέπω (ennépō, “tell or tell about; speak”), Latvian sacīt (“to say, tell”), Lithuanian sakyti (“to say, tell”), Bulgarian соча (soča, “to indicate; to point”), Czech sočit (“to blame, hate”), Old Polish soczyć (“to accuse, slander”), Russian сочи́ть (sočítʹ, “to emit (a liquid)”), Ukrainian сочи́ти (sočýty, “to emit (a liquid), exude, ooze; to drain, sap”). The adverb and interjection are from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: saien, seċġan, *saggjan, *sagjaną, *sokʷ-h₁-yé-, *sekʷ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /seɪ/
- British English: /seɪ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
says (present, singular)
saying (participle, present)
said (participle, past)
said (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
said (first person, past)
sayest (archaic, present)
said (past, second person)
saidst (archaic, past)
sayeth (archaic, present)
saith (archaic, present)