say vs what

say

intj
  • Used to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion 

verb
  • Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis. 

  • To tell, either verbally or in writing. 

  • To indicate in a written form. 

  • To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact. 

  • To recite. 

  • To pronounce. 

  • To try; to assay. 

  • To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker. 

  • To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. 

noun
  • Tried quality; temper; proof. 

  • A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision. 

  • Essay; trial; attempt. 

  • Trial by sample; assay; specimen. 

  • A strainer for milk. 

adv
  • Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach. 

  • For example; let us assume. 

what

intj
  • Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information. 

  • An expression of surprise or disbelief. 

  • What! That’s amazing! 

  • What did you say? I beg your pardon? 

  • What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires. 

det
  • Any ... that; all ... that; whatever. 

  • Used to form exclamations. 

  • Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. 

  • Emphasises that something is noteworthy or remarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'. 

  • Which; the ... that. 

pron
  • That which; those that; the thing(s) that. 

  • That; which; who. 

  • Anything that; all that; whatever. 

  • Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. 

noun
  • Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who. 

  • The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what. 

particle
  • Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener. 

adv
  • In what way; to what extent. 

  • Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (see what with), and much less commonly with other prepositions. 

How often have the words say and what occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )