different between say vs tell
say
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: s?, IPA(key): /se?/
- Rhymes: -e?
Etymology 1
From Middle English seyen, seien, seggen, from Old English se??an (“to say, speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjan? (“to say”), from Proto-Indo-European *sok?-h?-yé-, a suffixed o-grade form of *sek?- (“to tell, talk”).
Cognate with West Frisian sizze (“to say”), Dutch zeggen (“to say”), German sagen (“to say”), Danish sige (“to say”), Norwegian Bokmål si (“to say”), Norwegian Nynorsk seia (“to say”), Swedish säga (“to say”).
The adverb and interjection are from the verb.
Alternative forms
- saie, saye, seye (obsolete)
- thay, zay (pronunciation spelling)
Verb
say (third-person singular simple present says, present participle saying, simple past and past participle said)
- (transitive) To pronounce.
- (transitive) To recite.
- (transitive) To tell, either verbally or in writing.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- I want to say I’m sorry for yesterday. — It’s okay, Anna.
- I want to say I’m sorry for yesterday. — It’s okay, Anna.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- (transitive) To indicate in a written form.
- (impersonal, transitive) To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact.
- 1815, George Gordon Byron, The Hebrew Melodies/They say that Hope is happiness:
- They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
- 1819, Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, page 8:
- It is said, a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
- 1841, Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine), page 379:
- It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.
- 1815, George Gordon Byron, The Hebrew Melodies/They say that Hope is happiness:
- (informal, imperative, transitive) Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
- Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it okay to steal some food?
- 1984, Martin Amis, Money: a suicide note
- I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say, and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt […]
- (intransitive) To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
- (transitive, informal, of a possession, especially money) To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker.
Conjugation
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
say (plural says)
- A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision.
Translations
Adverb
say (not comparable)
- For example; let us assume.
Interjection
say
- (colloquial) Used to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion
Synonyms
- (used to gain attention): hey
References
- say in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- say in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Etymology 2
From Middle French saie, from Latin saga, plural of sagum (“military cloak”).
Noun
say (countable and uncountable, plural says)
- A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
Etymology 3
Aphetic form of assay.
Verb
say (third-person singular simple present says, present participle saying, simple past and past participle sayed)
- To try; to assay.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Noun
say (plural says)
- Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, page 193
- If those principal works of God […] be but certain tastes and says, as if were, of that final benefit.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, page 193
- Tried quality; temper; proof.
- Essay; trial; attempt.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Etymology 4
Noun
say (plural says)
- (Scotland) A strainer for milk.
Anagrams
- AYs, ays, yas
Azerbaijani
Etymology 1
Deverbal of saymaq.
Noun
say (definite accusative say?, plural saylar)
- number, quantity, count
- Synonyms: ?d?d, r?q?m
- (grammar) numeral
- (colloquial) value, importance
Etymology 2
From Proto-Turkic *say.
Noun
say (definite accusative say?, plural saylar)
- shallow, shoal
Declension
Crimean Tatar
Noun
say
- shallow place, island
Declension
References
- Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajins?ko-kryms?kotatars?kyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]?[4], Simferopol: Dolya, ?ISBN
Middle English
Noun
say
- Alternative form of assay
Portuguese
Verb
say
- Obsolete spelling of sai
Tatar
Noun
say
- area covered with stones
Turkish
Verb
say
- second-person singular imperative of saymak
Vietnamese
Etymology
From Proto-Vietic *p-ri? (“drunk”); cognate with Muong khay, Arem p?r??.
Pronunciation
- (Hà N?i) IPA(key): [saj??]
- (Hu?) IPA(key): [?aj??]
- (H? Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [?a(?)j??] ~ [sa(?)j??]
Verb
say • (????)
- to be drunk; to be inebriated
- (by extension) to be (car, sea, etc.) sick
- (figuratively) to be enamoured of; to take a deep interest in
Derived terms
Adjective
say
- deep (of sleep); fast asleep
say From the web:
- what say you
- what say you meaning
- what day is it
- what say ye
- what says the time in california
- what day is thanksgiving
- what say you gif
- what say you podcast
tell
English
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) enPR: t?l, IPA(key): /t?l/, /t??/
- Rhymes: -?l
Etymology 1
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-Germanic *taljan?, *talzijan? (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *tal?, *tal? (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.
Verb
tell (third-person singular simple present tells, present participle telling, simple past and past participle told)
- (transitive, archaic outside of idioms) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:
- And in his lap a masse of coyne he told, / And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye / A couetous desire with his huge threasury.
- 1875, Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine:
- Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:
- (transitive) To narrate.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- Tell her you’re here.
- Tell her you’re here.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- (transitive) To convey by speech; to say.
- (transitive) To instruct or inform.
- 1611, Bible (King James Version), Genesis xii. 18
- Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
- 1611, Bible (King James Version), Genesis xii. 18
- (transitive) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Ann Veronica
- She said she hoped she had not distressed him by the course she had felt obliged to take, and he told her not to be a fool.
- Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Ann Veronica
- (intransitive) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
- Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
- (transitive) To reveal.
- (intransitive) To be revealed.
- 1990, Stephen Coonts, Under Siege, 1991 Pocket Books edition, ?ISBN, p.409:
- Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling. Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.
- 1990, Stephen Coonts, Under Siege, 1991 Pocket Books edition, ?ISBN, p.409:
- (intransitive) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
- 1859 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
- Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may hold […] keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favour.
- 1859 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
- (transitive) To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
- (intransitive, childish) To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
- I saw you steal those sweets! I'm going to tell!
- (authorship, intransitive) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show
- Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
Usage notes
- In dialects, other past tense forms (besides told) may be found, including tald/tauld (Scotland), tawld (Devonshire), teld (Yorkshire, Devonshire), telled (Northern England, Scotland, and in nonstandard speech generally), telt (Scotland, Geordie), tole (AAVE, Southern US, and some dialects of England), toll (AAVE), tolt (AAVE).
- In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb tell had the form tellest, and had toldest for its past tense.
- Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form telleth was used.
Conjugation
Synonyms
- (enumerate): count, number; see also Thesaurus:count
- (narrate): narrate, recount, relate
- (to instruct or inform): advise, apprise; See also Thesaurus:inform
- (reveal): disclose, make known; See also Thesaurus:divulge
- (inform someone in authority): grass up, snitch, tattle; See also Thesaurus:rat out
Antonyms
- (to instruct or inform): ask
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
tell (plural tells)
- A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
- (archaic) That which is told; a tale or account.
- April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann
- I am at the end of my tell.
- April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann
- (Internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
See also
- dead giveaway
Etymology 2
From Arabic ????? (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew ????? (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).
Noun
tell (plural tells)
- (archaeology) A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
tell
- imperative of telle
tell From the web:
- what tells the hardware what to do and how to do it
- what tells your cells what to do
- what tells a ribosome how to assemble a protein
- what tells the story of a chemical reaction
- what tells you population density
- what tells the heart to beat
- what tells the ribosome to start
- what tells an atom's identity
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