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see¹

  • /siː/ UK
  • /si/ Canada, US

Sounds like C, cee, sea, Seay, si · Rhymes with -iː

Where it comes from

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”).

verb sees · seeing · saw · seen · seent · seed

  1. transitive To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path.[…]It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.
  2. transitive To witness or observe by personal experience. Now I've seen it all!
  3. transitive To watch (a movie) at a cinema, or a show on television etc. I saw the latest Tarantino flick last week.
  4. To form a mental picture of, to perceive in a certain way. I see it as essential that there should be somewhere to park.
  5. figuratively To understand. Do you see what I mean?
  6. figuratively To come to a realization of having been mistaken or misled. They're blind to the damage they do, but someday they'll see.
  7. transitive To foresee, predict, or prophesy. The oracle saw the destruction of the city.
  8. Used to emphasise a proposition. You see, Johnny, your Dad isn't your real father.
  9. To have an interview with; especially, to make a call upon; to visit. You'd better see about that with the boss.
  10. To date frequently. I've been seeing her for two months.
  11. To visit for an appointment, especially a medical appointment. You should see a doctor about that rash on your arm.
  12. To be attended to during an appointment, especially a medical appointment. The doctor will see you now.
  13. ergative To be the setting or time of. The 20th century saw humanity's first space exploration.
  14. broadly Chiefly followed by that: to ensure that something happens, especially by personally witnessing it. I'll see you hang for this
  15. transitive To wait upon; attend, escort. I saw the old lady safely across the road.
  16. transitive To respond to another player's bet with a bet of equal value. I'll see your twenty dollars and raise you ten.
  17. To determine by trial or experiment; to find out (if or whether). I'll come over later and see if I can fix your computer.
  18. To reference or to study for further details. Step 4: In the system, check out the laptop to the student (see: "Logging Resources" in the Tutor Manual).
  19. To examine something closely, or to utilize something, often as a temporary alternative. Can I see that lighter for a second? Mine just quit working.
  20. To include as one of something's experiences. The equipment has not seen usage outside of our projects.

Similar: behold, descry, espy, observe, view, decern, notice, pipe, spot

interjection

  1. Introducing an explanation. See, in order to win the full prize we would have to come up with a scheme to land a rover on the Moon.

see²

  • /siː/ UK
  • /si/ Canada, US

Sounds like C, cee, sea, Seay, si · Rhymes with -iː

Where it comes from

From Middle English se, see, from Old French see, sié (“seat, throne; town, capital; episcopal see”), from Latin sēdēs (“seat”), referring to the bishop's throne or chair (compare seat of power) in the cathedral; related to the Latin verb sedēre (“to sit”). Doublet of sedes.

noun sees

  1. A diocese or archdiocese: a region of a church, generally headed by a bishop or an archbishop.
  2. The office of a bishop or archbishop.
  3. A seat; a site; a place where sovereign, autonomous, or autocephalous power is exercised. Ioue laught on Venus from his ſouerayne ſee

see³

  • /siː/ UK
  • /si/ Canada, US

Sounds like C, cee, sea, Seay, si · Rhymes with -iː

noun sees

  1. alternative Alternative form of cee; the name of the Latin script letter C/c.cee see, ar, eye, ee, ess, cries

See⁴

noun Sees

  1. Alternative letter-case form of see.see

proper noun Sees

  1. An English surname.
  2. A surname from German.
  3. A surname from Hokkien.

SEE⁵

noun SEEs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of single-event effect (a temporary or permanent fault caused by an ionizing radiation particle or ray striking a computer chip).single-event effect
  2. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Signed Exact English.Signed Exact English

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