sheep

English

A domestic sheep

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: shēp, IPA^(key): /ʃiːp/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃip/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːp

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English schep, schepe, from Anglian Old English sċēp (West Saxon sċēap), from Proto-West Germanic *skāp, from Proto-Germanic *skēpą , of unknown origen.

Perhaps from the same Scythian word (compare Ossetian цӕу (cæw, “goat”), Persian چپش (čapiš, “yearling goat”)) which was borrowed into Albanian as cjap, sqap (“buck”) and into Slavic (compare Polish cap). After Kroonen, *skēpą is instead from the root of Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scratch”) via Kluge's law.

See also West Frisian skiep, North Frisian schäip, Dutch schaap, German Schaf), beside Proto-Germanic *keppô (compare Old Norse kjappi (“buck”), dialectal German Kippe (“newborn calf”)).

Alternative forms

• shoop (slang, chiefly humorous)
• sheepe (obsolete)

Noun

sheep (countable and uncountable, plural sheep or (nonstandard, humorous or childish) sheeps)

1. (countable) A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
2. (countable, strictly) A member of the domestic species Ovis aries, the most well-known species of Ovis.
3. (countable) A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.

   Synonyms: lamb, ovine; see also Thesaurus:shy person

4. (countable, chiefly Christianity, chiefly plural) A religious adherent, a member of a congregation or religious community (compare flock).
   • 1990, Dave Mustaine, "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", Megadeth, Rust in Peace.

     And fools like me, who cross the sea and come to foreign lands / Ask the sheep, for their beliefs do you kill on God's command?

5. (uncountable) Sheepskin leather.
6. (countable, speech recognition) A person who is easily understood by a speech recognition system; contrasted with goat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:sheep

Derived terms

• antisheep
• Barbary sheep
• bighorn sheep
• bitesheep
• Bizet sheep
• black sheep
• blue sheep
• count sheep
• Dall sheep
• Dall's sheep
• domestic sheep
• don't teach your grandmother to steal sheep
• fat-tailed sheep
• geep
• giraffe sheep
• iSheep
• lost sheep
• Marco Polo sheep
• mountain sheep
• Nairobi sheep disease
• nonsheep
• one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb
• run sheep run
• scabby sheep
• separate the sheep from the goats
• sheepback
• sheep-bell
• sheepberry
• sheep-biter
• sheep-biting
• sheepcote
• sheep-dip
• sheep dog
• sheepdog
• sheepdom
• sheep-faced
• sheep farmer
• sheepflesh
• sheepfold
• sheepfucker
• sheep-headed
• sheepherder
• sheepherding
• sheephook
• sheep in wolf's clothing
• sheepish
• sheep ked
• sheep laurel
• sheeple
• sheepless
• sheeplet
• sheeplike
• sheep-like
• sheepling
• sheep liver fluke
• sheep louse
• sheepman
• sheepmaster
• sheepmeat
• sheep milk
• sheepness
• sheepo
• sheep polypore
• sheeppox
• sheep-run
• sheepsfoot
• sheep-shagger
• sheep shagger
• sheepshagger
• sheepshank
• sheepshead
• sheepshearer
• sheepshearing
• sheepshit
• sheep-silver
• sheep-skin
• sheepskin
• sheep sorrel
• sheep-split
• sheep station
• sheepstealer
• sheepstealing
• sheep tick
• sheeptrack
• sheepwalk
• sheepwash
• sheepway
• sheepy
• shepherd
• Shepway
• Shipley
• shoat
• shoop (slang, chiefly humorous)
• snow sheep
• Spanish sheep
• Stone sheep
• thinhorn sheep
• vegetable sheep
• watersheep
• white sheep
• wolf guarding the sheep
• wolf in sheep's clothing
• Xalda sheep

 

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: sipsip (reduplication)
  • → Rotokas: sipisipi
• → Abenaki: azib (from "a sheep")
• → Chuukese: siip
• → Coeur d'Alene: sip
• → Quiripi: sheeps

Translations

animal

• Abenaki: azib
• Acehnese: bubiri
• Afar: idá, marúw
• Afrikaans: skaap (af), skape (af) pl
• Ainu: ヒチュチ (hicuci)
• Akkadian: 𒇻 (immeru)
• Albanian: delme (sq) f, dele (sq) f, berr (sq) m
• Amharic: በግ (bäg)
• Arabic: خَرُوف m (ḵarūf), ضَأْن (ḍaʔn)(collective), غَنَم (ḡanam) (collective), شاء (šāʔ) (collective), حَمَل (ar) m (ḥamal) (lamb)

  Egyptian Arabic: خروف m (ḵarūf)

  Hijazi Arabic: خاروف m (ḵārūf), غنمة f (ḡanama) (singulative), غنم m (ḡanam) (collective)

  Iraqi Arabic: غنم m (ḡanam)

  Moroccan Arabic: غنم m (ḡnam) (collective), خروف m (ḵrūf), خروفة f (ḵrūfa), نعجة f (naʕja), حولي m (ḥawli)

  South Levantine Arabic: خروف m (ḵarūf), غنمة f (ḡaname), غنم m (ḡanam) (collective)

• Armenian: ոչխար (hy) (očʻxar)
• Aromanian: oai (roa-rup) f, oae f
• Assamese: ভেৰা (bhera), ভেড়া (bhera), ভেৰা ছাগলী (bhera sagoli), ভেড়া ছাগলী (bhera sagoli)
• Asturian: oveya (ast) f
• Aymara: iwija (ay)
• Azerbaijani: qoyun (az)
• Bactrian: ποσο (poso)
• Bakhtiari: میش (mēš)
• Balinese: biri-biri
• Baluchi: میش (mēš), پس (pas)
• Bashkir: һарыҡ (harıq)
• Basque: ardi
• Bau Bidayuh: koming
• Belarusian: аве́чка f (avjéčka), аўца́ f (aŭcá)
• Bengali: ভেড়া (bn) (bheṛa), মেষ (bn) (meś)
• Brahui: melle
• Breton: dañvad (br) m, maout (br) m, dañvadez (br)
• Bulgarian: овца́ (bg) f (ovcá)
• Burmese: သိုး (my) (sui:), ဆိတ်ကုလား (my) (hcitku.la:)
• Buryat: хонин (xonin)
• Catalan: ovella (ca) f
• Central Melanau: biri-biri
• Chechen: уьстагӏ (üstağ)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏫ ᎤᏃᏕᎾ (awi unodena)
• Chichewa: nkhosa
• Chickasaw: chokfi, chokfi ishto'
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (min⁴ joeng^4-2), 羊 (joeng⁴), 羊咩 (joeng⁴ me¹)

  Dungan: мянён (mi͡ani͡on), ён (i͡on)

  Eastern Min: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (mièng-iòng)

  Hakka: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (mièn-yòng)

  Hokkien: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (zh-min-nan) (mî-iûⁿ), 羊 (zh-min-nan) (iûⁿ), 羊仔 (zh-min-nan) (iûⁿ-á)

  Mandarin: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (zh) (miányáng), 羊 (zh) (yáng)

  Wu: 綿羊 / 绵羊 (⁶mi-yan₆), 湖羊 (⁶wu-yan₆)

• Chiricahua: dibéhé
• Chuukese: siip
• Chuvash: сурӑх (surăh)
• Classical Nahuatl: ichcatl
• Cornish: davas f
• Crimean Tatar: qoy
• Czech: ovce (cs) f
• Dairi Batak: biri-biri
• Danish: får (da) n
• Daur: xonii
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dongxiang: ghoni
• Dutch: schaap (nl) n
• Dzongkha: ལུག (lug)
• Edo: óhuán
• Esperanto: ŝafo (eo)
• Estonian: lammas (et)
• Evenki: беру (beru)
• Ewe: alẽ
• Faroese: seyður (fo) m
• Finnish: lammas (fi)
• French: mouton (fr) m
• Friulian: piore f, fede f
• Galician: ovella (gl) f, motóa f, almella f, andosca f
• Gamilaraay: thimba
• Gaulish: *multon-
• Ge'ez: በግዕ (baggə')
• Georgian: ცხვარი (cxvari)
• German: Schaf (de) n
• Gondi: గొర్రె (gorre)
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 n (lamb)
• Greek: πρόβατο (el) n (próvato)

  Ancient: ὄϊς m or f (óïs), πρόβατον n (próbaton)

  Mycenaean Greek: 𐀥 (qi)

• Greenlandic: sava (kl)
• Guaraní: ovecha
• Gujarati: ઘેટું (gu) (gheṭũ)
• Haitian Creole: mouton
• Hausa: tunkìyā f
• Hawaiian: hipa
• Hebrew: כֶּבֶשׂ (he) m (kéves)
• Hindi: भेड़ (hi) f (bheṛ), मेष (hi) m (meṣ) (both ram and sheep)
• Hungarian: juh (hu), birka (hu)
• Icelandic: sauður (is) m, sauðkind (is) f, kind (is) f, fé (is) n (collective), sauðfé (is) n (collective), ær (is) f (ewe), rolla (is) f
• Ido: mutono (io)
• Ifè: àgùɖã̀
• Igala: álá, àgwùtọ̀ (obsolete)
• Igbo: atụlū
• Inari Sami: savzâ
• Indonesian: domba (id), biri-biri (id)
• Ingrian: lammas
• Ingush: устагӏ (ustağ)
• Interlingua: ove
• Irish: caora (ga) f
• Italian: pecora (it) f
• Itsekiri: àgútàn
• Izon: ọnị́na
• Japanese: 羊 (ja) (ひつじ, hitsují), ヒツジ (ja) (hitsuji), 綿羊 (ja) (めんよう, men'yō)
• Javanese: wedhus (jv)
• Jeju: 양 (yang)
• Jicarilla: dibé
• Jurchen: honi
• Kabyle: ikerri m
• Kalmyk: хөн (xön)
• Kannada: ಕುರಿ (kn) (kuri)
• Karelian: lammas
• Karo Batak: biri-biri
• Kashmiri: کَٹھ m (kaṭh), گٔب f (gạb)
• Kashubian: òwca
• Kazakh: қой (qoi)
• Khmer: ចៀម (km) (ciəm)
• Komi-Permyak: ыж (yž)
• Korean: 양 (ko) (yang), 면양 (ko) (myeonyang)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مەڕ (merr)

  Northern Kurdish: mî (ku) (ewe), mih (ku) (ewe), beran (ku) (ram), pez (ku) (both), berx (ku) (little), berindir (ku) (young), beyindir (ku) (young)

• Kyrgyz: кой (ky) (koy)
• Ladin: biescia
• Lao: ແກະ (lo) (kæ)
• Latgalian: vuška f
• Latin: ovis (la) f
• Latvian: aita (lv) f, avs (lv) f
• Laz: ჩხური (çxuri)
• Ligurian: pêgoa f
• Limburgish: sjaop (li) n
• Lingala: mpata
• Lithuanian: avis (lt) f
• Livonian: lāmbaz
• Louisiana Creole French: mouton
• Low German:

  German Low German: Schaap n, Schoop n

• Lycian: 𐊜𐊀𐊇𐊙 (χawã)
• Lü: ᦵᦈᧃ (ṫsen)
• Luganda: endiga
• Luhya: likhese, likhese
• Lusitanian: oilam f
• Luwian: 𒄩𒀀𒌑𒄿𒅖 (ḫāwīs⁠)
• Luxembourgish: Schof n
• Macedonian: овца (mk) f (ovca)
• Maguindanao: bili-bili
• Makasar: biri-biri
• Malagasy: besavily (mg), ondry (mg)
• Malay: biri-biri (ms), bebiri (ms), kambing biri-biri (ms), kambing bebiri (ms), domba (archaic)
• Malayalam: ചെമ്മരിയാട് (cemmariyāṭŭ)
• Maltese: nagħġa f, nagħaġ pl
• Manchu: ᡥᠣᠨᡳᠨ (honin)
• Manx: keyrrey f
• Maore Comorian: ɓariɓari class 5/6
• Maori: pirikahu, hipi
• Maranao: bili-bili
• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} मेंढी (meṇḍhī)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: шорык (šoryk)

  Western Mari: шарык (šaryk)

• Mariupol Greek: про́вату n (próvatu)
• Mazanderani: گاسفند (gâsfand), گسن (gəsan)
• Mbyá Guaraní: ovexa
• Mi'kmaq: jijgluewj anim
• Middle English: schep
• Middle Korean: 야ᇰ (yang)
• Mingrelian: შხური (šxuri)
• Mirandese: canhona f, oubeilha f
• Mon: သဵု (mnw) (sɒ)
• Mongolian: хонь (mn) (xonʹ)
• Nahuatl: ichcatl (nah)
• Nanai: хонин (honin)
• Navajo: dibé
• Nepali: भेंडा (bheṇḍā)
• Nias: biri-biri (nia)
• Nigerian Pidgin: sheep
• Norman: mouton m
• North Frisian:

  Föhr: schep n

  Goesharde, Mooring: schäip n

• Northern Sami: sávza
• Norwegian: sau (no) m, får (no) n
• Nupe: kingbàgbà
• Occitan: feda (oc) f, oelha (oc) f
• Odia: ମେଣ୍ଢା (or) (meṇḍhā)
• Ojibwe: maanishtaanish
• Okinawan: please add this translation if you can
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: овьца f (ovĭca)

  Glagolitic: ⱁⰲⱐⱌⰰ f (ovĭca)

• Old East Slavic: овьца f (ovĭca)
• Old English: scēap n
• Old Irish: cáera f
• Olukumi: àgùntàn
• Oromo: hoolaa
• Ossetian: фыс (fys)
• Ottoman Turkish: قویون (koyun)
• Pannonian Rusyn: овца f (ovca)
• Pashto: مړېيه m (lṛeyǝ́), مېږ m (meẓ), مږه f (mᶕɀa), پسه (ps) f (pəsᶕ, psᶕ), ګډه f (gǝ́ḍa)
• Persian:

  Dari: گوسْفَنْد (gōsfand), میش (fa) (mēš), قُوچ (qūč)

  Iranian Persian: گوسْفَنْد (gusfand), میش (fa) (miš), قوچ (fa) (ğuč)

• Plautdietsch: Schop (nds) n
• Polabian: vicĕ n
• Polish: owca (pl) f
• Portuguese: ovelha (pt) f
• Punic: 𐤔 (s)
• Punjabi: ਭੇਡ (bheḍ)
• Quechua: uwija
• Rohingya: sóol
• Romagnol: pégra f, pégura f
• Romani: bakro m, bakri f
• Romanian: oaie (ro)
• Romansch: nursa, nuorsa f, besch m
• Russian: овца́ (ru) f (ovcá), ове́чка (ru) f (ovéčka)
• S'gaw Karen: သိ (thoh)
• Samoan: mamoe
• Sango: walitaba (sg)
• Sanskrit: अवि (sa) m or f (avi), अविक (sa) m (avika)
• Santali: ᱵᱷᱤᱰᱤ (bhiḍi)
• Sardinian: brebei, berbeghe, barveghe, chessi, tzicca, erveche, odda (old sheep), argasa (sheep that lost her lamb)
• Saterland Frisian: Skäip f
• Scots: sheep
• Scottish Gaelic: caora f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: овца f, ован m, јагње n (lamb), јање n (Croatian)

  Roman: ovca (sh) f, ovan (sh) m, jagnje (sh) n (lamb), janje (sh) n (Croatian)

• Seychellois Creole: mouton
• Shan: သူဝ်း (shn) (só)
• Sidamo: gerechcho
• Simeulue: biri-biri
• Sindhi: رڍ
• Sinhalese: බැටළුවා (bæṭaḷuwā)
• Slovak: ovca (sk) f
• Slovene: ôvca (sl) f, ôven (sl) m
• Somali: ido (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wójca f

  Upper Sorbian: wowca f

• Sotho: nku (st), dinku (st) pl
• Spanish: carnero (es) m, oveja (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒇻 (UDU)
• Swahili: kondoo (sw)
• Swedish: får (sv) n
• Tagalog: tupa (tl), obeha
• Tajik: гӯсфанд (tg) (güsfand)
• Talysh: pəs, پس (pas) (Asalem dialect)
• Tamil: செம்மறியாடு (ta) (cemmaṟiyāṭu)
• Taos: kʼúona
• Tatar: сарык (tt) (sarıq)
• Telugu: గొర్రె (te) (gorre)
• Tetum: bibi malae
• Thai: แกะ (th) (gɛ̀)
• Tibetan: ལུག (lug)
• Tigrinya: በጊዕ (bägiʿ)
• Tocharian B: śaiyye
• Tok Pisin: sipsip
• Tongan: sipi
• Tooro: entaama class 9
• Tsakonian: βάννε (vánne)
• Tsonga: nyimpfu
• Tswana: nku (9/10)
• Turkish: koyun (tr)
• Turkmen: goýun
• Tuvan: хой (xoy)
• Ukrainian: вівця́ (uk) f (vivcjá)
• Urdu: بھیڑ (ur) f (bheṛ), گوسْفَنْد f (gosfand), میش m (meś) (both ram and sheep)
• Uyghur: قوي (ug) (qoy)
• Uzbek: qoʻy (uz), goʻsfand (uz)
• Venetan: piègora (vec) f, pégora, pigora, piovra, feda (vec) f, féda f
• Veps: lambaz
• Vietnamese: cừu (vi)
• Vilamovian: siöf n
• Volapük: jip (vo)
• Voro: lammas
• Votic: lammõz
• Walloon: bedot (wa) m, moton (wa) m
• Welsh: dafad (cy) f, defaid (cy) pl
• West Frisian: skiep n
• Western Apache: dibéé, dobéé, dibéłįį, bee’é, mee’é, mę’é
• Western Panjabi: بھیڈ (bheḍ)
• Wolof: xar mi (wo)
• Yakut: хой (qoy)
• Yiddish: שעפּס m (sheps), שאָף m or f (shof)
• Yoruba: àgùtàn
• Zazaki: mi, kavır (diq)
• Zhuang: yiengz
• Zulu: imvu (zu) class 9/10

one who behaves shyly

• Czech: ovčan (cs) m
• Esperanto: timidulo
• Finnish: hiirulainen
• Greek: πρόβατο (el) n (próvato)
• Hebrew: שֶׂה (he) m (se)
• Hindi: शर्मीला मनुष्य (śarmīlā manuṣya)
• Hungarian: birka (hu)
• Indonesian: pemalu (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} persona docile , ^{(please verify)} persona submisse
• Italian: pecora (it) f
• Lithuanian: avelė (lt) m or f, vatnikas m
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: بُزْدِل (bozdel)

• Polish: trusia (pl) f
• Portuguese: pusilânime (pt) m or f, ovelha (pt) f
• Russian: ове́чка (ru) f (ovéčka), ягнёнок (ru) m (jagnjónok), а́гнец (ru) m (ágnec)
• Scottish Gaelic: caora
• Spanish: pusilánime (es) m or f, papanatas (es) m or f
• Telugu: గొర్రె (te) (gorre)

See also

• Appendix:Animals

 

• Aries
• ewe
• hogg
• lamb
• mutton
• ovine
• ram
• teg
• tup
• wether

 

Further reading

• Sheep on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sheep (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ovis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Etymology 2

Noun

sheep

1. (chiefly humorous) plural of shoop

Anagrams

• Ephes., HEPES, heeps, shepe

Middle English

Noun

sheep

1. Alternative form of schep

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English schep, from Old English scēap.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʃip]

Noun

sheep (plural sheep)

1. sheep (woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis)

Alternative forms

• schap, scheep, schepe, scheip, schip

Yola

Noun

sheep

1. Alternative form of zheep
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 9, page 88:

     Wourlok'd an anooree, lick lhuskès o' sheep.

     Tumbled on one-another, like flocks of sheep.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 88