"I tell you" meaning in All languages combined

See I tell you on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Head templates: {{en-head|phr}} I tell you
  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) Synonym of I can tell you. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Synonyms: I can tell you [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-I_tell_you-en-phrase-s3QvnMce
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Phrase [English]

Etymology: From Etymology 1, or a calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”). Etymology templates: {{calque|en|nan-hbl|我共汝講|nocap=1|t=let me tell you something; listen up|tr=oá kā lí kóng}} calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”) Head templates: {{en-head|phr}} I tell you
  1. (Singapore, Singlish) Used to draw attention to something one has to say. Tags: Singapore, Singlish
    Sense id: en-I_tell_you-en-phrase-LoM16xFt Categories (other): Singapore English, Singlish, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 0 100 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 0 100 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 0 100
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
{
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "I tell you",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of I can tell you."
      ],
      "id": "en-I_tell_you-en-phrase-s3QvnMce",
      "links": [
        [
          "I can tell you",
          "I can tell you#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) Synonym of I can tell you."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "I can tell you"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "I tell you"
}

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "我",
      "我#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "共",
      "共#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "汝",
      "汝#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "講",
      "講#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "我",
      "我#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "共",
      "共#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "汝",
      "汝#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "讲",
      "讲#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "listen up",
      "listen up"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nan-hbl",
        "3": "我共汝講",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "let me tell you something; listen up",
        "tr": "oá kā lí kóng"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Etymology 1, or a calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "I tell you",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singapore English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singlish",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Today weather fucking hot I tell you.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              45,
              55
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1989, Eleanor Wong, Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 1, lines 18–20:",
          "text": "Luckily for us your son earns a good living. I tell you. I don’t know what we did when Jack was in school.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to draw attention to something one has to say."
      ],
      "id": "en-I_tell_you-en-phrase-LoM16xFt",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, Singlish) Used to draw attention to something one has to say."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "Singlish"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "I tell you"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "English terms calqued from Hokkien",
    "English terms derived from Hokkien",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "I tell you",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of I can tell you."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "I can tell you",
          "I can tell you#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) Synonym of I can tell you."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "I can tell you"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "I tell you"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "English terms calqued from Hokkien",
    "English terms derived from Hokkien",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "我",
      "我#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "共",
      "共#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "汝",
      "汝#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "講",
      "講#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "我",
      "我#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "共",
      "共#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "汝",
      "汝#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "讲",
      "讲#Hokkien"
    ],
    [
      "listen up",
      "listen up"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nan-hbl",
        "3": "我共汝講",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "let me tell you something; listen up",
        "tr": "oá kā lí kóng"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Etymology 1, or a calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "I tell you",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Singapore English",
        "Singlish"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Today weather fucking hot I tell you.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              45,
              55
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1989, Eleanor Wong, Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 1, lines 18–20:",
          "text": "Luckily for us your son earns a good living. I tell you. I don’t know what we did when Jack was in school.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to draw attention to something one has to say."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, Singlish) Used to draw attention to something one has to say."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "Singlish"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "I tell you"
}

Download raw JSONL data for I tell you meaning in All languages combined (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.