saw
English · Thesaurus
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saw¹
- /sɔː/ Northern England, UK, Wales
- /soː/ Australia, British, New Zealand
- /sɔ/ US
- [sɔɹ] US
- /sɑ/ US, cot caught merger
- /sɒ/ Canada
- /sɔ/ Scotland
- /sɑl/
Sounds like soar, sore (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
The noun from Middle English sawe, sawgh, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagu, from Proto-Germanic *sagô, *sagō (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian seage (“saw”), Dutch zaag (“saw”), German Säge (“saw”), Danish sav (“saw”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk sag (“saw”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), and through Indo-European, with Latin secō (“cut”) and Italian sega (“saw”).
The verb from Middle English sawen, from the noun above.
noun saws
- Such a tool with a toothed blade. Meronyms: sawtooth < sawblade
- Such a tool with an abrasive coating instead of teeth.
- A musical saw.
- A sawtooth wave.
- The situation where two partners agree to trump a suit alternately, playing that suit to each other for the express purpose.
verb saws · sawing · sawed · sawn
- To cut (something) with a saw. They were stoned, they were sawen asunder, were tempted, were slaine with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskinnes, and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.
- To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw. He said he was sometimes whistling a tune to himself — for, like me, he sawed a good deal on the fiddle; […]
- To be cut with a saw. The timber saws smoothly.
- To form or produce (something) by cutting with a saw. to saw boards or planks (i.e. to saw logs or timber into boards or planks)
saw²
- /sɔː/ Northern England, UK, Wales
- /soː/ Australia, British, New Zealand
- /sɔ/ US
- [sɔɹ] US
- /sɑ/ US, cot caught merger
- /sɒ/ Canada
- /sɔ/ Scotland
- /sɑl/
Sounds like soar, sore (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagā, from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē-, from *sekʷ- (“to say”).
Cognate with Dutch sage (“saga”), German Sage (“legend, saga, tale, fable”), Danish sagn (“legend”), Norwegian soga (“story”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”). More at saga, say. Doublet of saga.
noun saws
- Something spoken; speech, discourse. And for thy trew sawys, and I may lyve many wynters, there was never no knyght better rewardid[…]. And for your true discourses, and I may live many winters, there was never no knight better rewarded[…].
-
A saying or proverb.
old saw
Similar: byword, saying, adage, saw, proverb, maxim, apothegm, apophthegm, dictum, gnome, gnomic saying, mantra
- Opinion, idea, belief. by thy saw
- Proposal, suggestion; possibility. c. 1350-1400, unknown, The Erl of Toulous All they assentyd to the sawe; They thoght he spake reson and lawe.
- Dictate; command; decree. [Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw.
saw³
- /sɔː/ Northern England, UK, Wales
- /soː/ Australia, British, New Zealand
- /sɔ/ US
- [sɔɹ] US
- /sɑ/ US, cot caught merger
- /sɒ/ Canada
- /sɔ/ Scotland
- /sɑl/
Sounds like soar, sore (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː
SAW⁴
Where it comes from
From Arabic
SAW⁵
Where it comes from
Abbreviation.
noun SAWs
- Initialism of squad automatic weapon or initialism of section automatic weapon, a kind of light machine gun.
- Initialism of surface acoustic wave
- Acronym of solar array wing
proper noun
- Initialism of Stock Aitken Waterman, an English songwriting and record production trio.
Saw⁶
Where it comes from
Various origins:
* English metonymic occupational surname for a sawyer, from saw. Compare Sawyer.
* Borrowed from Hindi साव (sāv); this surname is predominantly found in Jharkhand state.
* Borrowed from Burmese စော (cau:), a nickname meaning "honorable".
proper noun Saws · Sawh
- A surname.
Saw⁷
noun Saws · Sawh
- A Bahamian. Since Tea Cake and Janie had friended with the Bahaman workers in the ’Glades, they, the “Saws,” had been gradually drawn into the American crowd.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: power saw, byword, adage, proverb, sawing machine, chainsaw, whet, edged, spoke, felt, figured, crosscut, checked, watch, ray, spotted
Translations
Every language
noun tool
| Español | sierra |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 톱 top |
| 日本語 | 鋸 nokogiri |
| 中文 | 鋸子 /锯子 jùzi, 鋸 /锯 jù |
| हिन्दी | आरा ārā |
| Kiswahili | msumeno |
| Português | serra, serrote |
| Français | scie |
| Deutsch | Säge |
| Italiano | sega |
| Ελληνικά | πριόνι prióni |
| Română | ferăstrău |
| Русский | пила́ pilá |
| Tiếng Việt | cưa, cái cưa |
| العربية | مِنْشَار minšār |
| עברית | מַשׂוֹר masór |
verb cut with a saw
| Español | serrar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 켜다 kyeoda, 썰다 sseolda |
| 日本語 | 挽く hiku, 切る kiru |
| 中文 | 鋸 /锯 jù |
| Português | serrar |
| Français | scier |
| Deutsch | sägen |
| Italiano | segare |
| Ελληνικά | πριονίζω prionízo |
| Română | fierăstrui, ferestrui |
| Русский | пили́ть pilítʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | cưa |
| العربية | نَشَرَ našara |
noun saying or proverb
| Español | proverbio, refrán, dicho |
|---|---|
| Português | provérbio |
| Français | proverbe |
| Deutsch | Spruch, Sprichwort |
| Italiano | adagio, detto, proverbio |
| Ελληνικά | απόφθεγμα apófthegma, ρήση rísi |
| Русский | посло́вица poslóvica, погово́рка pogovórka |
Talk about this word "saw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/saw. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. saw. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/saw "saw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/saw.Cite this
@misc{saw_2026,
title = {saw},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/saw},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
