Saying

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈseɪ.ɪŋ/

Definitions

1. A familiar phrase or expression used to convey a meaning or wisdom ; the act of speaking or expressing something in words
2. A widely known or often repeated phrase that carries a specific meaning ; the action of verbally communicating or stating an idea
3. A proverb or commonly used expression that imparts advice or truth ; the process of articulating thoughts through spoken language

Etymology: The word is simply "say" with the suffix "-ing" attached, and the verb "say" has a long Germanic ancestry. Its distant ancestor was a reconstructed root meaning roughly "to say" or "to speak," which passed through Proto-Germanic and Old English (where the form was "seċġan") before becoming the Middle English "seien" and then the modern "say." The "-ing" ending is a common English suffix that turns a verb into a noun naming the act or result of doing the verb, so "saying" literally means something like "a thing said" or "the act of saying." That straightforward pairing explains both senses in the definition. The act sense, "speaking or expressing something in words," follows the suffix's basic meaning directly. The proverbial sense, a familiar phrase carrying wisdom, is the same idea narrowed: a "saying" is something that has been said so often and so memorably that it has become a fixed expression. Proverbs and sayings are, in this sense, simply things that have been said.

Synonyms: expression, remark, statement