shebeen
UK/ʃɪˈbiːn/
shebeen noun: an unlicensed drinking establishment, especially in Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa.
Noun
shebeen (plural shebeens)
- An unlicensed drinking establishment, especially in Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa.
- ‘Well, let's line,’ he said to Ben. ‘We can fill up at a shebeen.’1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage, published 1998, page 178
- On almost every corner there were shebeens, illegal saloons that were shacks where home-brewed beer was served.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 88
Verb
shebeen (third-person singular simple present shebeens, present participle shebeening, simple past and past participle shebeened)
- To operate an unlicensed drinking establishment.
Forms of shebeen
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shebeens |
| alternative form | shibbeen |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shebeens |
| present participle | shebeening |
| past participle | shebeened |
| past | shebeened |
Origin of shebeen
Borrowed from Irish síbín.
Words formed from shebeen
Words that rhyme with shebeen
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- baleen
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- gombeen
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
Questions about shebeen
- What does shebeen mean?
- Shebeen means an unlicensed drinking establishment, especially in Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa.
- What part of speech is shebeen?
- Shebeen can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce shebeen?
- Shebeen is pronounced /ʃɪˈbiːn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of shebeen?
- The plural of shebeen is shebeens.
Words near shebeen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shebeen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “shebeen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shebeen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.