Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

see

/si/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.10 in modern English

Syllables
see
IPA
/si/
3
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight.

Transitive verb

verb

To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight.

Transitive verb

verb

To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight.

Transitive verb

verb

To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way.

verb

To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way.

verb

To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way.

verb

To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way.

Transitive verb

verb

To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way.

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English seen, from Old English sēon (“to see, look, behold, perceive, observe, discern, understand, know”), from Proto-West Germanic *sehwan, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to see, notice”). Etymology 1 sense 9 is a calque of Latin vidē (“see (thou)”, 2ⁿᵈ person singular imperative), which was also borrowed into academic English (see vide) as well as Portuguese. Cognates Cognate with Scots see, sei (“to see”), Yola sau, ze, zee, zey, zie (“to see”), North Frisian se, si, siin, siine, siinj, sä, säie (“to see”), Saterland Frisian sjo (“to see”), West Frisian sjen (“to see”), Bavarian segn (“to see”), Central Franconian sehn, senn (“to see”), Dutch zien (“to see”), Low German sehn (“to see; to look”), German sehen (“to see”), Limburgish séëne, zeen (“to see”), Luxembourgish gesinn (“to see”), Alemannic German gseh (“to see”), Mòcheno sechen (“to see”), Vilamovian zaon (“to see”), Yiddish זען (zen, “to see”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish se (“to see”), Elfdalian sją̊ (“to see”), Faroese síggja (“to see”), Icelandic sjá (“to see”), Norwegian Nynorsk sjå (“to see”), sia (“to foretell”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (saiƕan, “to see”), and more distantly with Albanian shof, shoh (“to see”), Latin secūtus, sequūtus (“followed”), Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “to follow, obey”), Persian ا (a), از (az), ز (ze, “from, of”), Luwian 𒁕𒀀𒌋𒄿𒅖 (“eye”), Sanskrit सच् (sac, “to be associated with, familiar with, have to do with”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *sekʷ-, seen, sēon, *sehwan, *sehwaną, *sed-

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /si/
  • British English: /siː/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce see?
The recorded pronunciation is /si/.
What does see mean?
To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight.
Where does see come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce see

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “see”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/si/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “see”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “see” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.