sing

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice.
2. (intransitive) To perform a vocal part in a musical composition, regardless of technique.
3. (transitive) To express audibly by means of a harmonious vocalization.
4. (transitive) To soothe with singing.
5. (ambitransitive) Of birds, to vocalise:
6. (ambitransitive, literary) Of birds, to vocalise:
7. (intransitive, slang) To confess under interrogation.
8. (intransitive) To make a small, shrill sound.
9. To relate in verse; to celebrate in poetry.
10. (intransitive) To display fine qualities; to stand out as excellent.
11. (ergative) To be capable of being sung; to produce a certain effect by being sung.
12. (Australia) In traditional Aboriginal culture, to direct a supernatural influence on (a person or thing), usually malign; to curse.
13. (archaic, slang) To yell or shout.

Noun

The act, or event, of singing songs.

Synonyms

chant

twitter

recite

chirp

call

warble

sing a song

trill

song

🎶

intone

dance

💃

hum

perform

whistle

vocalize

carol

play

praise

whine

roar

croon

shout

cry

😢

crow

pipe

babble out

exult

start singing

blab

yell

extol

descant

peach

🍑

versify

talk

🗣️

music

🎶

tattle

sound

🔉

babble

let the cat out of the bag

speak

🗣️

compose

bark

rejoice

say

🗣️

spill the beans

harmonize

blab out

scream

😱

full

Translations

chanter

cantar

singen

cantare

cantar

zingen

cantar

τραγουδώ

canere

غنى

cantare

cantar

şarkı söylemek

ötmek

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪŋ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: singen

Inherited from Old English: singan

Cognate with German: singen

In summary

From Middle English singen, from Old English singan (“to sing”), from Proto-West Germanic *singwan, from Proto-Germanic *singwaną (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ- (“to recite, sing”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian sjunge (“to sing”), West Frisian sjonge (“to sing”), Dutch zingen (“to sing”), German Low German singen (“to sing”), German singen (“to sing”), Danish synge (“to sing”), Swedish sjunga (“to sing”), Icelandic syngja (“to sing”), Ancient Greek ὀμφή (omphḗ, “voice, oracle”).