Meanings
- colloquialIntroduces a compromise or arrangement where the interlocutor has some benefit or advantage.
Tell you what, you can have it for fifty quid if you'll promise to give it a good home.
- colloquialSynonym of I can tell you.
Tell you what, you won't find another one that cheap anytime soon.
Synonyms: I can tell you
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseSynonym of I can tell you.
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kuules, kuulkaas
- kuulesTranslations
- kuulkaasTranslations
Polish powiem tak
- powiem takTranslations
Cite this entry
tell you what. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20you%20what
“tell you what.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20you%20what. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tell you what,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20you%20what.
Source: tell you what on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.