saying

saying

English

Etymology

say +‎ -ing

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.ɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɪŋ
• Hyphenation: say‧ing

Verb

saying

1. present participle of say

Noun

saying (plural sayings)

1. A proverb or maxim.
   • 1983, Shen, James C. H., “Rejoining the Government”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally‎, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, LCCN 82-13884, OCLC 8708915, page 30:

     There is a Chinese saying: "One who does not know how to smile has no business to be in business." How much truer is this of people engaged in the business of diplomacy!

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Citadel:

     Garrus: Fist knows you're coming. We'll have a better chance if we all work together.
     Wrex: My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:saying.
2. (obsolete) That which is said; an utterance.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,
     Howe'er you lean to th' nayward.

Synonyms

• maxim, proverb, saw, expression
• See also Thesaurus:saying

Translations

proverb or maxim

Arabic: قَوْل‎ m (qawl) Armenian: առած (hy) (aṙac) Belarusian: пры́маўка f (prýmaŭka), пры́казка f (prýkazka), прысло́ўе n (pryslóŭje) Bulgarian: погово́рка (bg) f (pogovórka), пословица (bg) f (poslovica) Catalan: dita (ca) f, proverbi (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 說法／说法 (zh) (shuōfǎ), 諺語／谚语 (zh) (yànyǔ), 常言 (zh) (chángyán) Czech: rčení n, přísloví (cs) n Dutch: gezegde (nl) n, spreekwoord (nl) n Finnish: sanonta (fi) French: dicton (fr) m Galician: dito (gl) m German: Sprichwort (de) n, Ausspruch (de) m, Redensart (de) f Greek: απόφθεγμα (el) n (apófthegma), παροιμία (el) f (paroimía), ρητό (el) n (ritó) Ancient: παροιμία f (paroimía) Hungarian: mondás (hu), közmondás (hu), szólásmondás (hu) Indonesian: pepatah (id) Interlingua: dicto, proverbio Italian: proverbio (it) m, detto (it) m, massima (it) f Japanese: 格言 (ja) (かくげん, kakugen) Korean: 격언 (ko) (gyeogeon), 속담 (ko) (sokdam) Latin: dictum (la) n, fatus m, ēlogium n Luxembourgish: Sprachwuert n, Sproch (lb) m Macedonian: поговорка f (pogovorka), изрека f (izreka), пословица f (poslovica) Malayalam: പഴമൊഴി (ml) (paḻamoḻi), പഴഞ്ചൊല്ല് (ml) (paḻañcollŭ) Maori: tūātau, whakapepeha, kīanga Plautdietsch: Saj f Polish: powiedzenie (pl) Portuguese: ditado (pt) m, provérbio (pt) m Romanian: zicală (ro) f, proverb (ro), zicătoare (ro) f Russian: посло́вица (ru) f (poslóvica), погово́рка (ru) f (pogovórka), при́сказка (ru) f (prískazka), присло́вье (ru) n (prislóvʹje) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: poslovica (sh) f, izreka (sh) f Slovak: rčenie pl, príslovie n Spanish: dicho (es) m, proverbio (es) m, refrán (es) m Swahili: msemo (sw) Swedish: ordspråk (sv) n, ordstäv (sv) n (dated) Tagalog: sabi, kasabihan Ukrainian: при́казка f (prýkazka), прислі́в'я (uk) n (pryslívʺja) Urdu: کہاوت‎ (kahāvat) Vietnamese: câu nói (vi) Walloon: spot (wa) m, dijhêye (wa) f Welsh: dywediad (cy) m Yiddish: שפּריכוואָרט‎ (yi) n (shprikhvort), פֿאָלקסווערטל‎ n (folksvertl), וועלטסווערטל‎ n (veltsvertl)

Further reading

• saying in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• saying in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911