English [ edit ] Etymology [ edit ] From Middle English singen Old English singan Proto-Germanic *singwaną Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ-
Pronunciation [ edit ] sing (third-person singular simple present sings present participle singing simple past sang past participle sung or ( archaic ) sungen
( intransitive ) To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice .
"I really want to sing in the school choir," said Vera .
( transitive ) To express audibly by means of a harmonious vocalization .
1852 , Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion [1]
In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
( transitive ) To soothe with singing.
to sing somebody to sleep
( intransitive , slang ) To confess under interrogation .To make a small, shrill sound.
The air sings in passing through a crevice. a singing kettle
Alexander Pope
O'er his head the flying spear / Sang innocent, and spent its force in air.
To relate in verse; to celebrate in poetry.
Prior
Bid her [ …] sing / Of human hope by cross event destroyed.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
( intransitive ) To display fine qualities; to stand out as excellent.
The sauce really makes this lamb sing .
Derived terms [ edit ]
Terms derived from the verb "sing"
Related terms [ edit ] Translations [ edit ]
to produce harmonious sounds with one’s voice
Afrikaans: sing
Albanian: këndoj (sq)
Amharic: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: غَنَّى ( ḡannā )
Egyptian Arabic: غنى ( ġanā )
Aragonese: cantar (an)
Aramaic:
Syriac: ܙܡܪ ( zmer )
Armenian: երգել (hy) ( ergel )
Aromanian: cãntu
Assamese: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: cantar
Atikamekw: nakamo
Aymara: please add this translation if you can
Azeri: oxumaq (az)
Basque: abestu (eu) , kantatu (eu)
Belarusian: спява́ць impf ( spjavácʹ ) , заспява́ць pf ( zaspjavácʹ )
Bengali: গাওয়া ( gaoya )
Berber:
Tashelhit: ttirir
Breton: please add this translation if you can
Bulgarian: пе́я (bg) impf ( péja )
Burmese: သီချင်း ဆို ( sihkyang:hcui ) ( literally "say a song")
Catalan: cantar (ca)
Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Cantonese: 唱 ( coeng3 ) , 唱歌 ( coeng3 go1 )
Mandarin: 唱歌 (zh) ( chànggē ) , 唱 (zh) ( chàng ) , 鳴 (zh) , 鸣 (zh) ( míng ) ( of birds )
Corsican: cantà (co)
Crimean Tatar: yırlamaq
Czech: zpívat (cs) impf
Dalmatian: cantur
Danish: synge (da)
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: zingen (nl)
Dzongkha: please add this translation if you can
Esperanto: kanti
Estonian: laulma
Evenki: ikə- ( ikə- )
Ewe: please add this translation if you can
Faroese: syngja
Finnish: laulaa (fi)
Franco-Provençal: chantar
French: chanter (fr)
Friulian: cjantâ
Galician: cantar (gl)
Georgian: მღერიან ( mɣerian ) , მღერა ( mɣera )
German: singen (de)
Gothic: 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌸𐍉𐌽 ( liuþon ) , 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌽 ( siggwan )
Greek: τραγουδάω ( tragoudáo ) , τραγουδώ (el) ( tragoudó ) , άδω (el) ( ádo ) , ψέλνω (el) ( psélno ) ( a hymn ) , κελαηδώ (el) ( kelaidó ) ( of a bird )
Ancient: ᾄδω ( ā́idō )
Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
Hausa: please add this translation if you can
Hawaiian: mele
Hebrew: שָׁר (he) ( shar )
Hindi: गाना (hi) ( gānā )
Hungarian: énekel (hu)
Icelandic: syngja (is)
Ido: kantar (io)
Indonesian: bernyanyi / menyanyi ( of a person ) , berkicau ( of a bird )
Interlingua: cantar
Interlingue: cantar
Irish: can
Istro-Romanian: cântå
Italian: cantare (it)
Japanese: 歌う (ja) ( うたう, utau ) , 鳴く (ja) ( なく, naku ) ( of birds )
Kannada: ಗಾನಮಾಡು (kn) ( gānamāḍu )
Kashubian: spiéwac impf
Kazakh: өлең айту ( öleñ aytw ) , өлеңдету ( öleñdetw )
Khmer: ច្រៀង (km) ( jrieng )
Korean: 노래하다 (ko) ( noraehada ) , 부르다 (ko) ( bureuda ) , 노래부르다 ( noraebureuda )
Kurdish:
Sorani: گۆرانی وتن
Kyrgyz: ырдоо ( ırdoo )
Ladin: cianter cianté ciantà
Lao: ຮ້ອງເພງ ( hǭng phēng ) , ຮ້ອງ ( hǭng )
Latin: canō (la) , cantō (la)
Latvian: dziedāt
Lingala: koyemba konzemba
Lithuanian: dainuoti giedóti
Lojban: sanga (jbo)
Low German: singen
Luxembourgish: sangen
Macedonian: пе́е impf ( pée )
Malay: menyanyi
Malayalam: പാടുക (ml) ( pāṭuka )
Maltese: kanta
Manx: kiaull
Maori: korihi ( refers to birds )
Marathi: गाणे ( gāṇe )
Megleno-Romanian: cǫnt
Mirandese: cantar
Mongolian: дуу дуулах ( duu duulah ) , магтан дуулах ( magtan duulah )
Nahuatl: cuīca (nah)
Navajo: hataał
Neapolitan: cantà
Nepali: please add this translation if you can
Ngazidja Comorian: uheza
Norman: chanter
North Frisian: ( Föhr-Amrum ) schong
Northern Sami: lávlut
Norwegian: synge (no)
Novial: kanta
Occitan: cantar (oc)
Old Church Slavonic: пѣти ( pěti )
Old English: singan
Old Provençal: chantar
Oriya: please add this translation if you can
Pashto: please add this translation if you can
Persian: سرودن (fa) ( sorudan ) , آواز خواندن (fa) ( âvâz xândan ) , خواندن (fa) ( xândan )
Polish: śpiewać (pl) impf zaśpiewać (pl) pf
Portuguese: cantar (pt)
Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
Purepecha: pireni
Quechua: takiy (qu) , takii
Romanian: cânta (ro)
Romansch: chantar
Russian: петь (ru) impf ( petʹ ) , спеть (ru) pf ( spetʹ )
Scots: please add this translation if you can
Scottish Gaelic: seinn gabh òran , ( bird ) ceileir
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: певати impf пјевати impf
Roman: pevati (sh) impf pjevati (sh) impf
Sicilian: cantari (scn)
Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
Sinhalese: ගයනවා ( gayanavā )
Slovak: spievať impf
Slovene: peti (sl) impf zapeti pf
Somali: please add this translation if you can
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: spiwaś
Upper Sorbian: spěwać
Sotho: bina (st)
Spanish: cantar (es)
Sundanese: kawih kawih
Swahili: kuimba
Swedish: sjunga (sv)
Tagalog: kanta (tl)
Tajik: хондан (tg) ( xondan ) , сурудан кардан ( surudan kardan )
Tamil: பாடு (ta) ( pāṭu )
Tatar: җырларга (tt) ( cırlarga )
Telugu: పాడు (te) ( pāḍu )
Thai: ขับร้อง (th) ( kàp rɔ́ɔng ) , ร้องเพลง (th) ( rɔ́ɔng pleeng ) , ร้อง (th) ( rɔ́ɔng )
Tok Pisin: singsing
Turkish: şarkı söylemek (tr)
Turkmen: saýramak
Tuvan: ырлаар ( ırlaar )
Ukrainian: співа́ти (uk) impf ( spiváty ) , заспіва́ти pf ( zaspiváty )
Urdu: گانا (ur) ( gānā )
Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
Uzbek: kuylamoq (uz) , qoʻshiq aytmoq
Vietnamese: hát (vi)
Volapük: kanitön (vo) ( transitive )
Walloon: tchanter (wa)
Welsh: canu (cy)
West Frisian: sjonge
Wolof: please add this translation if you can
Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: זינגען ( zingen )
Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
Yucatec Maya: k'aay
Zulu: please add this translation if you can
confess under interrogation
sing (plural sings
A gathering for the purpose of singing songs .
2002 , Martha Mizell Puckett, Hoyle B. Puckett, Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom , page 198:
Some of the young folks asked Mrs. Long could they have a sing at her home that Sunday afternoon; she readily agreed, telling them to come early, bring their songbooks, and have a good sing.
See also [ edit ] Anagrams [ edit ] Afrikaans [ edit ] Etymology [ edit ] From Dutch zingen
sing (present sing present participle singende past participle gesing
to sing
Hungarian [ edit ] Etymology [ edit ] sing
( archaic ) cubit (a unit of linear measure, no longer in use, originally equal to the length of the forearm)
