sit
pronunciation
How to pronounce sit in British English:
UK [sɪt]
How to pronounce sit in American English:
US [sɪt]
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- Verb:
- be seated
- sit around, often unused
- take a seat
- be in session
- assume a posture as for artistic purposes
- sit and travel on the back of animal, usually while controlling its motions
- work or act as a baby-sitter
- show to a seat; assign a seat for
Word Origin
- sit
- sit: [OE] Sit comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sitjan or *setjan, which also produced German sitzen, Dutch zitten, Swedish sitta, and Danish sidde. This was derived from a base *set-, source also of English seat, set (etymologically ‘cause to sit’), and settle. And this in turn went back to the Indo-European base *sed- ‘sit’, which has contributed hugely to English vocabulary – mainly through its Latin descendant sedēre ‘sit’ (source of English assess, insidious, séance, session, size, subsidy, etc), but also via Welsh, in the form of eisteddfod.It lies in addition behind English saddle and soot, and its other progeny include Russian sidet’, Serbo-Croat sjediti, and Latvian sēdēt ‘sit’.=> assess, eisteddfod, insidious, saddle, séance, seat, session, set, settle, size, subsidy
- sit (v.)
- Old English sittan "to occupy a seat, be seated, sit down, seat oneself; remain, continue; settle, encamp, occupy; lie in wait; besiege" (class V strong verb; past tense sæt, past participle seten), from Proto-Germanic *setjan (cognates: Old Saxon sittian, Old Norse sitja, Danish sidde, Old Frisian sitta, Middle Dutch sitten, Dutch zitten, Old High German sizzan, German sitzen, Gothic sitan), from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary). With past tense sat, formerly also set, now restricted to dialect, and sate, now archaic; and past participle sat, formerly sitten. In reference to a legislative assembly, from 1510s. Meaning "to baby-sit" is recorded from 1966. To sit back "be inactive" is from 1943. To sit on one's hands was originally "to withhold applause" (1926); later, "to do nothing" (1959). To sit around "be idle, do nothing" is 1915, American English. To sit out "not take part" is from 1650s. Sitting pretty is from 1916.
Example
- 1. Do you just sit around in the dark ?
- 2. On summer evenings , the workingmen sit on their balconies .
- 3. Sit him down and gently take him through it .
- 4. These countries also sit on one of the world 's most sensitive political fault-lines .
- 5. Now , vale has decided to sit out this year 's negotiation , effectively handing leadership to rio .