see

pronunciation

How to pronounce see in British English: UK [siː] word uk audio image

How to pronounce see in American English: US [siː] word us audio image

Noun:

the seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
Verb:

perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
perceive (an idea or situation) mentally
perceive or be contemporaneous with
imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind
deem to be
get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
see or watch
find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
come together
be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something
go to see for professional or business reasons
go to see for a social visit
visit a place, as for entertainment
take charge of or deal with
receive as a specified guest
date regularly; have a steady relationship with
see and understand, have a good eye
deliberate or decide
observe as if with an eye
observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect
go or live through
accompany or escort
match or meet
make sense of; assign a meaning to
Adverb:

compare (used in texts to point the reader to another location in the text)

Word Origin

see: see: English has two words see. The older is the verb, ‘perceive visually’ [OE]. Like its Germanic cousins, German sehen, Dutch zien, and Swedish and Danish se, it goes back to a prehistoric *sekhwan, which was descended from an Indo-European base *seq-. This may have been the same *seq- that produced Latin sequī ‘follow’ (source of English sequence, sue, etc), in which case see would denote etymologically ‘follow with the eyes’. See ‘diocese’ [13] originally signified ‘bishop’s throne’.It came via Anglo-Norman se from Vulgar Latin *sedem ‘seat’, descendant of classical Latin sēdem, the accusative case of sēdes ‘seat’. This in turn went back to the Indo- European base *sed- ‘sit’, which also produced English sit.=> sight; seat, sit

see (v.): Old English seon "to see, look, behold; observe, perceive, understand; experience, visit, inspect" (contracted class V strong verb; past tense seah, past participle sewen), from Proto-Germanic *sekhwan (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German sehan, Middle High German, German sehen, Old Frisian sia, Middle Dutch sien, Old Norse sja, Gothic saihwan), from PIE root *sekw- (2) "to see," which is probably identical with *sekw- (1) "to follow" (see sequel), a root which produced words for "say" in Greek and Latin, and also words for "follow" (such as Latin sequor), but "opinions differ in regard to the semantic starting-point and sequences" [Buck]. Thus see might originally mean "follow with the eyes." Used in Middle English to mean "behold in the imagination or in a dream" (c. 1200), "to recognize the force of (a demonstration)," also c. 1200. Sense of "escort" (as in to see (someone) home) first recorded 1607 in Shakespeare. Meaning "to receive as a visitor" is attested from c. 1500. Gambling sense of "equal a bet" is from 1590s. See you as a casual farewell first attested 1891. Let me see as a pausing statement is recorded from 1510s. To have seen everything as a hyperbolic expression of astonishment is from 1957. When you have seen one of their Pictures, you have seen all. [Blake, c. 1811]

see (n.): c. 1300, "throne of a bishop, archbishop, or pope," also "throne of a monarch, a goddess, Antichrist, etc.," from Old French sie "seat, throne; town, capital; episcopal see," from Latin sedem (nominative sedes) "seat, throne, abode, temple," related to sedere "to sit" (see sedentary). Early 14c. as "administrative center of a bishopric;" c. 1400 as "province under the jurisdiction of a bishop."