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PlainSpell

say

/seɪ/verb, noun, adverb, interjection

say is spelled S-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 776 times per million words in written English, the 137th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, say means “To pronounce” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in say?

Letters3: S-A-Y
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing776 times per million words; the 137th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is say?

Say appears 776 times per million words in written English, the 137th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce say?

  • US /seɪ/
  • US [seː]
  • British /seɪ/

Say has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-say.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with say?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as say from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of say

  • says present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • saying participle, present
  • said participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • thay
  • zay
  • sayed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does say mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To pronounce.

    Please say your name slowly and clearly.

  2. 2

    To recite.

    Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance?

  3. 3

    To tell, either verbally or in writing.

    He said he would be here tomorrow.

  4. 4

    To indicate in a written form.

    The sign says it’s 50 kilometres to Paris.

  5. 5

    To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact.

    They say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do", which means "behave as those around you do."

  6. 6

    informalSuppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.

    A holiday somewhere warm – Florida, say – would be nice.

  7. 7

    To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.

  8. 8

    informalTo bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker.

  9. 9

    To try; to assay.

noun

  1. 1

    A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision.

    The local government did not have much say in the matter.

  2. 2

    A type of fine cloth similar to serge.

  3. 3

    Trial by sample; assay; specimen.

    If those principal works of God […] be but certain tastes and says, as if were, of that final benefit.

  4. 4

    Tried quality; temper; proof.

  5. 5

    Essay; trial; attempt.

  6. 6

    ScotlandA strainer for milk.

adverb

  1. 1

    For example; let us assume.

    Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach.

interjection

  1. 1

    UScolloquialUsed to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion

    Say, what did you think about the movie?

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Say in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdire (to say, to tell), réciter (to recite), indiquer (to indicate in a written form), mot à dire (chance to speak; right or power to influence or…)
Germansagen, erzählen (to say, to tell), verrichten (to recite), Mitsprache, Mitspracherecht (chance to speak; right or power to influence or…), säge (to pronounce)
Portuguesedizer, dire (to say, to tell), recitar (to recite), falar (to pronounce)
Spanishdecir (to say, to tell), poner (to indicate in a written form), se dice (to have a common expression), digamos, dígame (Translations)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does say come from?

From Middle English saien, sain, san, secgan, segen, seien, sein, seiȝen, sugen, sægen, ziggen, from Old English seċġan, secgean, secggan, secggean, seggan, sæċġan (“to say, speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną (“to say”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-h₁-yé-, a suffixed o-grade form of *sekʷ- (“to say”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after say