different between sow vs seen

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sug? (compare West Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge), from Proto-Indo-European *suh?kéh? (compare Welsh hwch (“pig”), Sanskrit ???? (s?kará, “swine, boar”)), from *suH- ‘pig’ (compare German Sau, Latin s?s, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ?? (hûs), Albanian thi, Avestan ????????? (h?, “boar”). See also swine.

Alternative forms

• (dial.): zew, soo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophone: sough

Noun

sow (plural sows or swine)

1. A female pig.
2. A female bear, she-bear.
3. A female guinea pig.
4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
   • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, p. 160:

     In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.

6. (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
7. A sowbug.
8. (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Craig to this entry?)

Usage notes

The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.

Synonyms

• (mass of metal solidified in a mold): ingot
• (contemptible woman): bitch, cow

Derived terms

• make a silk purse of a sow's ear

Translations

See also

• boar
• hog
• pig

Etymology 2

From Middle English sowen, from Old English s?wan, from Proto-Germanic *s?an?, from Proto-Indo-European *seh?-. Compare Dutch zaaien, German säen, Danish så, Norwegian Bokmål så.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /so?/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophones: seau, sew, so, soe, soh

Verb

sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown or sowed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

   When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.

   As you sow, so shall you reap.

2. (figuratively) To spread abroad; to propagate.

   • And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
3. (figuratively) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature

     The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.

Synonyms

• plant, scatter

Derived terms

• besow
• intersow
• oversow
• reap what one sows
• sower
• sown
• sow one's wild oats
• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

Translations

Anagrams

• OSW, OWS, W.O.s, WOs, wos

Middle English

Noun

sow

1. Alternative form of sowe

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?n, IPA^(key): /?si?n/, (also) /?s?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n
• Homophone: scene

Etymology 1

Verb

seen

1. past participle of see
2. (nonstandard, dialectal) simple past tense of see; saw.

   I seen it with my own eyes.

Antonyms

• unseen

Etymology 2

From Arabic ????? (s?n)

Noun

seen (plural seens)

1. The letter ? in the Arabic script.

Anagrams

• Nees, eens, esne, sene, snee

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German sagen, from Old High German sagen.

Verb

seen

1. (Issime) to say

References

• “seen” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *seeni. Cognate of Finnish sieni and Latvian s?ne.

Noun

seen (genitive seene, partitive seent)

1. mushroom
2. fungus

Declension

Finnish

Noun

seen

1. genitive singular of see

Ingrian

Noun

seen

1. mushroom

Luxembourgish

Verb

seen

1. second-person singular imperative of seenen

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English s?on

Pronunciation

• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /sø?n/
• IPA^(key): /se?n/

Verb

seen

1. to see

Usage notes

The conjugation of this verb is highly variable; the forms given below are only a representative selection.

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: see
• Scots: se, sie, see

Scots

Verb

seen

1. past participle of sei