English

tell you what

Introduces a compromise or arrangement where the interlocutor has some benefit or advantage.

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    Ellipsis of I'll tell you what or I tell you what. The sense introducing an arrangement also corresponds to another, longer established collocation of I'll tell you what I'm gonna do or let me tell you what I'm gonna do.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    Sources