CS Knowledge Base

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sein (plural seins)

1. Archaic spelling of seine.

• EINs, NIEs, Nies, SINE, sien, sine, snie

From Proto-Basque *seni.

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sein anim

1. child

• haur
• ume

• “sein”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “sein”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

• IPA^(key): /sɛi̯n/

• sein (NL):

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• Rhymes: -ɛi̯n
• Hyphenation: sein

From Old French seigne, a northern variant of signe, from Latin signum.^[1] Doublet of zegen.

sein n (plural seinen, diminutive seintje n)

1. signal

   Synonym: signaal

2. railway signal

• hoofdsein
• noodsein
• rangeersein
• seinbeeld
• seinstelsel
• voorsein

• seinen

• → Indonesian: sein

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

sein

1. inflection of seinen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• Ines, nies

From Proto-Finnic *saina, borrowed from a Baltic language, compare Latvian siena. Finnish seinä is of the same origin.

IPA^(key): /ˈsei̯n/

sein (genitive seina, partitive seina)

1. wall

• IPA^(key): /ˈsei̯n/, [ˈs̠e̞i̯n]
• Rhymes: -ein
• Syllabification^(key): sein
• Hyphenation^(key): sein

sein

1. inflection of sei:
   1. genitive singular
   2. instructive plural

sein

1. instructive plural of see

• -isen, ensi, ensi-, ines, sine

Inherited from Old French sein, from Latin sinus, from Proto-Italic *sinus, from Proto-Indo-European *sinos. Doublet of sinus. Compare Italian seno, Romanian sân, Romansh sain, Portuguese seio, Spanish seno.

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃/

• au sein:

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• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Homophones: sain, sains, saint, saints, seing, seings, seins

sein m (plural seins)

1. breast (the chest)

   Sur votre jeune sein laissez rouler ma tête. ― Let my head roll on your young breast.

2. breast

   Elle a de gros seins. ― She has big breasts.

3. (literary) womb

   Elle a porté cet enfant dans son sein. ― She carried this child in her womb.

4. bosom

   au sein de la famille ― in the bosom of the family

   le sein du Père ― the bosom of the Father

• (breast): poitrine, (Quebec, slang) boule, (slang) nichon, nibard, nib, (informal) tété, lolo, néné, robert, (France, informal) gougoutte

• au sein de
• donner le sein

• “sein”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• Inès, nies, niés, sien

• seyn (obsolete)
• syn (obsolete) (frühneuhochdeutsch, for example used by the following authors: Sebastian Brant, Das Narrenschiff, 1494; Jacob Ruff, Adam und Heva)

• IPA^(key): /zaɪ̯n/ (Germany)

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  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• IPA^(key): /saɪ̯n/, [saɛ̯n] (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n
• Homophone: seinen (according to a common pronunciation of this form)

Inherited from Middle High German sīn, from Old High German sīn (“to be”), see Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”) (suppleted with *beuną (“to be, exist, become”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be, exist”). Cognate with Dutch zijn (“to be”), Low German sien (“to be”).

sein (irregular, third-person singular present ist, past tense war, past participle gewesen, past subjunctive wäre, auxiliary sein)

1. (copulative, with a predicate adjective or predicate nominative) to be

   Das ist schön. ― That is beautiful.

   Das ist ein Auto. ― That is a car.

2. (impersonal, see usage notes) to feel (to experience a condition) [with dative ‘someone’ and adjective ‘in some way’ (only for certain adjectives)]

   Ist dir kalt? ― Are you cold?

   Mir ist schlecht. ― I'm sick.

   Dem Mann ist schwindelig. ― The man feels dizzy.

   Den Kindern ist langweilig. ― The children are bored.

3. (impersonal) to feel like, to be in the mood for [with dative ‘someone’, along with nach (+ dative) ‘something desired’ or danach ‘that thing’, (sometimes) along with zumute]

   Uns ist nach einem Film zumute. ― We feel like watching a movie.

   Mir ist nicht danach. ― I don't feel like it.

4. (auxiliary) forms the present perfect and past perfect tenses of certain intransitive verbs

   Er ist alt geworden. ― He has become old.

5. (intransitive) to exist; there to be; to be alive

   Was nicht ist, kann noch werden. (a common proverb)

   That which does not exist now, may come into existence.

   Wenn ich nicht mehr bin, erbst du das Haus.

   When I am no more, you'll inherit the house.

6. (intransitive, colloquial) to have the next turn (in a game, in a queue, etc.)

   Du bist. ― It’s your turn.

   Du bist nach mir. ― Your turn is after mine.

7. (intransitive, childish) to be "it"; to be the tagger in a game of tag

   Du bist! ― You're it!

   Ich bin nicht mehr. ― I'm not it anymore.

• In the sense “to feel [like]” sein is always conjugated in the third person singular and takes a dative noun. The impersonal subject es may be present, but is often taken as implied. For example:

Mir ist warm, Mir ist es warm, Es ist mir warm may all be translated as “I'm warm”, or literally as “(To) me (it) is warm”. See Usage notes for the respective adjectives.

Alternative forms:

• Past participle: gewest (obsolete; poetical)
• Second-person plural preterite indicative: waret (older; poetical)

The subjunctive I (first and third person) and indicative (first person only) forms are also used as imperatives.

• Seien wir mal ehrlich./Sind wir mal ehrlich. ― Let’s be honest.
• Seien Sie mal ehrlich. (second-person formal) ― Be honest!

From Middle High German sein, sīn, from Old High German sīn, from Proto-West Germanic *sīn, from Proto-Germanic *sīnaz (“his own, her own, its own, their own”) (a reflexive possessive), from genitive of Proto-Indo-European *swé with denominative suffix Proto-Indo-European *-nós, equivalent to the genitive form of *se-.

Cognate with Low German sien (“his, its”), Dutch zijn (“his, its”), Danish sin (“his, her, its, their”), Old English sīn (“his, its”).

sein

1. his

   Daniel schickt seiner Schwester eine SMS.

   Daniel is sending a text to his sister.

   Der Kater spielt oft mit seinen Spielsachen.

   The cat often plays with his toys.

2. its (agreeing with a masculine or neuter noun)

   der Mond und sein Licht

   the moon and its light

   das Schaf und seine Lämmer

   the sheep and its lambs

   1. (informal) Used to express an approximate number, often with so.

      Der kostet so seine zweihundert Euro.

      That one costs around two hundred euros.

3. one's

   Man muss seinem Herzen folgen.

   One must follow one’s heart.

When used as a pronoun, the nominative masculine takes the form seiner, and the nominative/accusative neuter takes the form seines or seins.

• mein Vater und seiner ― my father and his
• mein Kind und sein(e)s ― my child and his

sein

1. (archaic) genitive of er
2. (archaic) genitive of es

• “sein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “sein” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “sein” in Duden online
• “sein” in OpenThesaurus.de

• eins

sein

1. romanization of 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽

From Middle High German sein, sīn, from Old High German sīn, from Proto-West Germanic *sīn (“his”). Cognate with German sein.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪ̯n/
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n
• Syllabification: sein

sein

1. his
2. its (agreeing with a neuter or masculine noun)

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “sein”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

From Dutch sein (“signal”), from Old French seigne, a northern variant of signe, from Latin signum. Doublet of sinyal.

• IPA^(key): /seɪ̯n/
• Hyphenation: sé‧in

sein

1. signal

   Synonyms: tanda, isyarat

2. ellipsis of lampu sein (“indicator, turn signal”)

• sen

• “sein”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

sein

1. alternative form of seien

sein

1. alternative form of sin (“that”)

sein

1. alternative form of sin (“that”)

From Old Norse seinn.

sein (neuter singular seint, definite singular and plural seine, comparative seinere, indefinite superlative seinest, definite superlative seineste)

1. alternative form of sen

• “sein” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• isen, isne, neis, nise, -isen, si-en, sine, snei

From Old Norse seinn.

• IPA^(key): /sɛɪːn/

sein (neuter seint, definite singular and plural seine, comparative seinare, indefinite superlative seinast, definite superlative seinaste)

1. slow
2. late (arriving after expected time)
3. late (near the end of a period of time)

• “sein” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• eins, isen, isne, neis, nesi, nise, sein, seni, si-en, sine, Sine

Inherited from Latin sinus.

sein oblique singular, m (oblique plural seinz, nominative singular seinz, nominative plural sein)

1. (anatomy) breast

sein

1. first-person plural present subjunctive of vara

• sain (Rumantsch Grischun)
• sagn (Sutsilvan, Surmiran)

From Latin sinus (compare French sein, Italian seno, Romanian sân, Spanish seno).

sein m

1. (Sursilvan) breast (of a woman)

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran) pèz
• (Sutsilvan) péz
• (Puter, Vallader) pet

From Proto-Finnic *saina. Related to Finnish seinä.

sein

1. wall

Inflection of sein (inflection type 6/kuva)
nominative sing.	sein
genitive sing.	seinän
partitive sing.	seinäd
partitive plur.	seinid
	singular	plural
nominative	sein	seinäd
accusative	seinän	seinäd
genitive	seinän	seiniden
partitive	seinäd	seinid
essive-instructive	seinän	seinin
translative	seinäks	seinikš
inessive	seinäs	seiniš
elative	seinäspäi	seinišpäi
illative	seinähä	seinihe
adessive	seinäl	seinil
ablative	seinälpäi	seinilpäi
allative	seinäle	seinile
abessive	seinäta	seinita
comitative	seinänke	seinidenke
prolative	seinädme	seinidme
approximative I	seinänno	seinidenno
approximative II	seinännoks	seinidennoks
egressive	seinännopäi	seinidennopäi
terminative I	seinähäsai	seinihesai
terminative II	seinälesai	seinilesai
terminative III	seinässai	—
additive I	seinähäpäi	seinihepäi
additive II	seinälepäi	seinilepäi

From Dutch sein (“signal”), from Old French seigne, a northern variant of signe.

• (Clay) IPA^(key): /sai̯n/
• (Wood) IPA^(key): /sɛi̯n/

sein n (plural seinen, diminutive seintsje)

1. signal

• “sein (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011