saber

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.bɚ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.bə(ɹ)/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: sa‧ber

saber (plural sabers)

1. (American spelling) Alternative form of sabre

saber (third-person singular simple present sabers, present participle sabering, simple past and past participle sabered)

1. (American spelling) Alternative form of sabre

• BSAer, Bares, Brase, Breas, bares, barse, baser, bears, besra, braes, rabes, sabre

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”).

• IPA^(key): /saˈbeɾ/, [saˈβ̞eɾ]

saber

1. to know

• sabor

• sabre, sebre
• sapiguer (dialectal)

From Old Catalan saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (with a change in verb class). The origin of sé for the present indicative first person singular is unknown.

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /səˈbə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /səˈbɛ/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /saˈbeɾ/

• Audio

  (file)

saber (first-person singular present sé, past participle sabut)

1. to know (a fact), to have knowledge
2. to know how to

• saber greu
• sabràs dos i dos quants fan

• sabor

saber m (plural sabers)

1. knowledge, know-how

• conèixer (“to be familiar with”)

• “saber” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “saber”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “saber” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “saber” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”).

• IPA^(key): /saˈβeɾ/

saber (first-person singular present sei, first-person singular preterite souben, past participle sabido)

1. to know (a fact)
2. to know how to do (something)

   Val máis saber que ter (proverb)

   Better to know than to have

3. to find out
4. (intransitive) to taste, to have a taste

   Sabe ben! ― It tastes good!

5. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to like, enjoy

   A min sábeme o caldo. ― I like broth / I like this broth.

6. first-person singular personal infinitive of saber
7. third-person singular personal infinitive of saber

Like Portuguese and Spanish, Galician has two different verbs that are usually translated to English as “to know”. The verb saber relates to factual knowledge and skills. In contrast, the verb coñecer relates to familiarity with people or places.

Currently, it is not known where the first person singular form that is currently used for the present indicative, "sei", originates from.

• seica

• sabor

• coñecer

saber m (plural saberes)

1. knowledge, know-how

• “saber” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “saber” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “saber” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “saber” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “saber” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

• saupre

From Old Occitan saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”).

• Audio (Béarn)

  (file)

saber

1. to know

   Antonym: ignorar

• sabor

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“I taste”).

saber

1. to taste (have a certain taste)
2. to know

saber m (oblique plural sabers, nominative singular sabers, nominative plural saber)

1. knowledge

• sabor (noun)

• Catalan: saber

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “sapere”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 11: S–Si, page 193

From Old Portuguese saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere (“to taste; to be wise”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p- (“to try, to research”). The origin of sei for the first person singular is unknown, while the base of the present subjunctive most likely comes from metathesis of the P and I in the present subjunctive (sapiām, sapiās, etc.) of Latin sapiō.

• (Rural Central Brazil) IPA^(key): /sɐˈbe(ɹ)/
• Hyphenation: sa‧ber

saber (first-person singular present sei, first-person singular preterite soube, past participle sabido)

1. to know
   1. (intransitive) to be aware of a fact

      Perguntaram-me a resposta, mas eu não sabia. ― They asked me the answer, but I didn’t know.

      Sei que é verdade. ― I know it’s true.

   2. (transitive) to be aware of a value or piece of information
      • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 46:

        Olho-Tonto, você sabe que isso é nojento, não sabe?

        Mad-Eye, you know that this is disgusting, don't you?

      Eu sei qual é a capital da Assíria. ― I know what is the capital of Assyria.

      Ele sabe duzentos algarismos do número neperiano. ― He knows two hundred digits of Euler’s number.

   3. (auxiliary with a verb in the impersonal infinitive) to know how to do something

      Não sei fazer isso, mas ela sabe. ― I don’t know how to do this, but she knows.

      Sabes falar russo? ― Can you speak Russian?

2. (transitive with de or sobre) to know about; to have heard about

   Soube da explosão que houve no centro? ― Have you heard about the downtown explosion?

3. (Portugal) (transitive with a) to taste of (to have the same taste as)

   Um bom vinho sabe a carvalho. ― A good wine tastes like oak.

4. (Portugal) to have a pleasant taste

   Como sabe esse vinho! ― How good does this wine taste!

5. to learn (to become informed of something)

   Eles querem saber mais sobre o projeto. ― They want to learn more about the project.

saber does not mean to know in the sense of knowing someone (who they are); for that, conhecer should be used instead.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:saber.

• (to know a value): conhecer
• (to know how to do something): conseguir
• (to taste of): ter gosto de

• Macau Pidgin Portuguese: 撒㗑, 撒備, 散拜
  • → Chinese Pidgin English: savvy, sarby

saber m (plural saberes)

1. knowledge; lore (intellectual understanding)

   Synonyms: conhecimento, sabedoria

• dar a saber
• sabe-tudo

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapere, present active infinitive of sapiō (“to taste”). Compare English savvy and savor. The replacement of expected saba, etc. with sepa, etc. for the present subjunctive may be due to metathesis of the P and I in Latin sapiam, sapiās, etc. (present subjunctive of sapiō) followed by a merger of A and I. The origin of sé and why that irregular form ousted the expected sabo (or, going by the current present subjunctive, sepo) is unknown.

• IPA^(key): /saˈbeɾ/ [saˈβ̞eɾ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: sa‧ber

saber (first-person singular present sé, first-person singular preterite supe, past participle sabido)

1. to know (a fact), to wit

   Sé que volverá. ― I know that it'll come back.

   Lo siguiente que sé... ― Next thing I know...

   que yo sepa ― as far as I know

   Si tu supieras... ― If you knew...

2. to know how to do something

   Sabe hablar español.

   He knows how to speak Spanish.

3. (in the preterite tense) to find out, to learn
4. to taste

   Sabe a pollo. ― It tastes like chicken.

5. to realize, to know (e.g. recognize)

   El hombre no sabe lo talentoso que su hijo es.

   The man doesn't realize how talented his son is.

6. to tell, to know (i.e. to discern or distinguish if something is the case)

   Siempre es difícil saber si me mientes.

   It's always hard to tell if you're lying to me.

7. (informal) to figure out

   Todavía estamos tratando de saber qué acaba de pasar.

   We're still trying to figure out what just happened.

8. to hear from (+ de)

   No he sabido nada de ella en meses.

   I haven't heard from her in months.

9. to hear of, to hear about, (+ de)
10. to learn of, to learn about, to find out about, to know about (+ de)
11. (reflexive) to be known

    Ya se sabe que uno de los factores que aceleran esta enfermedad es el estrés.

    It is known that one of the factors that speeds up this disease is stress.

12. (reflexive) to know (extremely well)

    He oído que te sabes todas las líneas de la película de memoria.

    I heard that you know all the lines of the movie by heart.

• sabio
• sabiondo
• sabor

saber m (plural saberes)

1. knowledge

• saber hacer

• conocer (“to know a person or place”)
• saborear

• “saber”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014