Etymologically
Log in

sing

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English singen, inherited from Old English singan (“to chant, sing, tell in song”),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *sengwanan,[3][2] also the source of Old Frisian sionga, Old Saxon and Old High German singan, Dutch zingen, German singen, Old Norse syngva and Gothic siggwan.[2][3][4] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ- (“to sing, make an incantation”).[2][3] Etymonline notes there are said to be no related forms outside Germanic, unless Greek omphḗ “voice of a god, oracle” and Welsh dehongli “to explain” belong here.[2][3][5] It is related to song.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To utter words or sounds in musical tones: about 725 in Barnhart, in Beowulf;[3] about 825 in the OED.[7] To tell of something in song or verse is about 900.[7]

Semantic evolution

Old English singan was used especially of singing in joy or merriment, and late Old English also of birds and wolves.[2] In Middle English it sometimes meant to play on a musical instrument,[2] and to chant the divine service or say mass (1297, now obsolete).[7] To utter praises enthusiastically is from the 1560s,[2] and sing for one's supper by 1745.[2] The criminal slang sense “to inform, confess to the police” is found in the 1610s, but the modern use, recorded in American English from 1929, is probably a fresh formation.[2][8] The noun, an act of singing, is from 1850,[2][7] and the sound of a bullet in flight from 1871.[7] Singer is about 1303.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – to sing.[3]
  • c. 900 – to tell of in song.[7]
  • c. 1303 – singer.[3]
  • 1560s – to proclaim enthusiastically.[2]
  • 1745 – sing for one's supper.[2]
  • 1850 – noun, an act of singing.[2][7]
  • 1871 – noun, the sound of a bullet.[7]
  • 1929 – to inform to the police.[8]
  • 1959 – sing along.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make musical sounds with the voice, especially words with a tune.
  2. To perform songs, especially as a trained singer.
  3. Of birds or insects, to make musical sounds.
  4. To make a high whistling or humming sound: the kettle sang.
  5. (literary) To praise or tell of in verse.
  6. (slang) To give information to the police; to confess.

Noun

  1. (informal) An act or occasion of singing together.

Word family

  • singable
  • singability
  • singingly
  • outsing
  • sing-along
  • singer
  • singsong
  • scat singing

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge