see

UK/siː/US/si/

verbA16 meanings One of the most common words in English · #13 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: seen, saw, seeing, sees

To see is to take something in with your eyes. You see the bus coming, see a face you know across a platform, see that it is raining before you are properly awake.

It slides into understanding without changing shape: I see, do you see what I mean, I don't see the problem. It also means to meet — see a doctor, see friends at the weekend — and in the continuous it means dating, so they have been seeing each other since March. See to it that something happens means make sure of it. The past forms are irregular, saw and seen, never seed. The rule learners trip on is this: for the eyes, English prefers can, as in I can see the sea from here rather than I am seeing the sea, while seeing is exactly right for meeting people.

Definitions of see

1verbseeTo notice something with your eyes.A1
“From the window you can see all the way to the bridge.”
synonyms: notice, spot, glimpse
2verbunderstandTo understand.A1
“I see why you didn't want to say anything.”
3verbmeetTo meet or visit someone.A1
“She is seeing the specialist on Tuesday.”
4verbspendTo spend time with someone romantically.B1
“They have been seeing each other for a year.”
5verbsureTo make sure that something happens.B2
“See that the gate is shut behind you.”
6verbplaceTo be the time or place in which something happens.B2
“Each spring sees the same birds return to the chimney.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

Phrases it lives in

see eye to eye — to agree completely with someone
wait and see — to hold off judging until you know more
see red — to become suddenly furious

Where it comes from

See is Old English sēon, and that word already did both jobs: to look and behold, but also to perceive, understand and know. So I see for I understand is no modern figure of speech, it is a thousand years old. Behind it stand Proto-Germanic *sehwaną and a Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-, to see or notice.

Proto-Indo-European
*sekʷ- — to see, notice
Proto-Germanic
*sehwaną — to see
Proto-West Germanic
*sehwan
Old English
sēon — to see, look, behold, perceive, observe, discern, understand, know
Middle English
seen
English, today
see

From Middle English seen, from Old English sēon (“to see, look, behold, perceive, observe, discern, understand, know”), from Proto-West Germanic sehwan, from Proto-Germanic sehwaną (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European sekʷ- (“to see, notice”). refer to is a Latin vidē (“see (thou)”), which was also into academic English (see vide) as well as vide. 2

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Everyday Verbs

Practise this word

see in the wild

While his office is called the papacy, the jurisdiction of the episcopal see is called the Holy See.
Pope
According to Catholic tradition, the apostolic see of Rome was founded by Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the first century.
Pope
A superior court may hear appeals from lower courts (see court of appeal).
Superior court
For courts of general jurisdiction in civil law system, see ordinary court.
Superior court
But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.
I know it when I see it

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

Definitions of see

1verbseeTo notice something with your eyes.A1

“From the window you can see all the way to the bridge.”

synonyms: notice, spot, glimpse

2verbunderstandTo understand.A1

“I see why you didn't want to say anything.”

3verbmeetTo meet or visit someone.A1

“She is seeing the specialist on Tuesday.”

4verbspendTo spend time with someone romantically.B1

“They have been seeing each other for a year.”

5verbsureTo make sure that something happens.B2

“See that the gate is shut behind you.”

6verbplaceTo be the time or place in which something happens.B2

“Each spring sees the same birds return to the chimney.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.