Word.ws English Dictionary

sheeny

/ˈʃiːni/

sheeny noun: a Jew.

Noun

sheeny (plural sheenies)

  1. (ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) A Jew.
    • May I never get groggy, if I shall ever forget the joke between you and the old Sheenie, when you threatened to throw him overboard for selling you a dumb time-keeper. ‘Blesh ma heart,’ said the Jew, while his under works shook like a cutter’s foresail going about, ‘how could you expect de vatch to...1825/6, Charles Molloy Westmacott, The English spy, an original work, characteristic, satirical, and humorous, comprising scenes and sketches in every rank of society... drawn from the life by...
    • O, solomon Levi! Levi! tra la la la!
      Poor sheeny Levi, Tra la la la la la la la la la
      My name is Solomon Levi
      At my store on Salem street
      That’s where you’ll buy your coats and vests
      And everything else that’s neat (tra la la)
      Second-handed Ulsterettes
      And everything else that’s fine
      For all the...1885, Fred Seaver, “Solomon Levi”Boston, MA, U.S.
    Synonyms:
    heeb, Hymie, kike, shylock
  2. (slang) A cheat or fraudster.

Adjective

sheeny (comparative sheenier, superlative sheeniest)

  1. Having a sheen; glossy.
  2. Bright; radiant; shining.
    • And many a sheeny summer-morn, / Adown the Tigris I was borne, / By Bagdat's shrines of fretted gold, / High-walled gardens green and old; […]1830 June, Alfred Tennyson, “Recollections of the Arabian Nights”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, part I, page 22

sheeny meaning in Urdu

sheeny in Urdu

sheeny
اججول ujjval

Examples of sheeny in a sentence

  • Shylock chimes with the jewbaiting that followed the hanging and quartering of the queen’s leech Lopez, his jew’s heart being plucked forth while the sheeny was yet alive.1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
  • "I've told you before now not to push that long, sheeny beak of yours into my affairs."1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html)...
  • One time in Humboldt Park Leo "Bow" Gisensohn, our leader, didn't like the way a cop down by the lake called him "sheeny."1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A...

Synonyms of sheeny

Forms of sheeny

Noun
pluralsheenies
alternative formsheeney
alternative formsheenie
Adjective
comparativesheenier
superlativesheeniest

Origin of sheeny

Seems to have originated in 1820s London. Could be a mockery of Yiddish שיין (sheyn, “beautiful, nice”), much used in praising wares.

From sheen + -y.

Words that rhyme with sheeny

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sheeny

What does sheeny mean?
Sheeny means a Jew.
What is sheeny in Urdu?
Sheeny in Urdu is اججول (ujjval). See Sheeny meaning in Urdu.
How do you use sheeny in a sentence?
Shylock chimes with the jewbaiting that followed the hanging and quartering of the queen’s leech Lopez, his jew’s heart being plucked forth while the sheeny was yet alive.
What part of speech is sheeny?
Sheeny can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce sheeny?
Sheeny is pronounced /ˈʃiːni/.
What is the plural of sheeny?
The plural of sheeny is sheenies.

Words near sheeny in the dictionary

  1. sheening
  2. sheenless
  3. sheenlessness
  4. sheenly
  5. sheens
  6. sheeny
  7. sheep
  8. sheep crab
  9. sheep creep
  10. sheep dog
  11. sheep dogs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sheeny (page history and authors); اججول (Urdu) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-sheeny.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sheeny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sheeny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.