sheep
/ˈʃiːp/
sheep noun: a woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis. Also the plural of shoop.
Noun
sheep (countable and uncountable, plural sheep or (nonstandard, humorous or childish) sheeps)
- A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
- There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly.1955 July, D. S. Barrie, “Railways of the Bridgend District”, in Railway Magazine, page 449
- A member of the domestic species Ovis aries, the most well-known species of Ovis.
- A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.
- Synonyms:
- lamb, ovine, introvert, mouse, recluse, shybie, wallflower, shrinking violet
- A religious adherent, a member of a congregation or religious community (compare flock).
- 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?1990, Dave Mustaine, "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", Megadeth, Rust in Peace.
- Sheepskin leather.
- A person who is easily understood by a speech recognition system; contrasted with goat.
- A gullible person.
Also used as
sheep is also the plural of shoop.
sheep meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sheep in Hindi
- animal
- भेड़ bheṛ, मेष meṣ
- one who behaves shyly
- शर्मीला मनुष्य śarmīlā manuṣya
sheep in Tamil
- animal
- செம்மறியாடு cemmaṟiyāṭu
sheep in Marathi
- animal
- मेंढी meṇḍhī
sheep in Urdu
- animal
- بھیڑ bheṛ, گوسْفَنْد gosfand, میش meś
More languagesFewer languages
- sheep in Bengali
- ভেড়া bheṛa, মেষ meś
- sheep in Telugu
- గొర్రె gorre
- sheep in Malayalam
- ചെമ്മരിയാട് cemmariyāṭŭ
- sheep in Kannada
- ಕುರಿ kuri
- sheep in Punjabi
- ਭੇਡ bheḍ, بھیڈ bheḍ
- sheep in Gujarati
- ઘેટું gheṭũ
- sheep in Odia
- ମେଣ୍ଢା meṇḍhā
- sheep in Sanskrit
- अवि avi, अविक avika
- sheep in Sinhala
- බැටළුවා bæṭaḷuwā
- sheep in Assamese
- ভেৰা bhera, ভেড়া bhera, ভেৰা ছাগলী bhera sagoli, ভেড়া ছাগলী bhera sagoli
- sheep in Nepali
- भेंडा bheṇḍā
- sheep in Pashto
- مړېيه lṛeyǝ́, مېږ meẓ, مږه mᶕɀa, پسه pəsᶕ, psᶕ
- sheep in Tagalog
- tupa, obeha
- sheep in Arabic
- خَرُوف ḵarūf, ضَأْن ḍaʔn, غَنَم ḡanam, شاء šāʔ
- sheep in Malay
- biri-biri, bebiri, kambing biri-biri, kambing bebiri
- sheep in Indonesian
- domba, biri-biri, pemalu
- sheep in Persian
- گوسْفَنْد gōsfand, میش mēš, قُوچ qūč, قوچ ġuč
- sheep in Thai
- แกะ gɛ̀
- sheep in Vietnamese
- cừu
- sheep in Myanmar
- သိုး sui:, ဆိတ်ကုလား hcitku.la:
- Sindhi
- رڍ rḍh
- Kashmiri
- کَٹھ kaṭh, گٔب gạb
- Dzongkha
- ལུག lug
Examples of sheep in a sentence
- If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.
- The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
- During spring shearing we have to fleece all the sheep in just a few days.
Synonyms of sheep
Forms of sheep
| plural | sheep |
|---|---|
| plural childish (nonstandard, humorous) | sheeps |
| alternative form (nonstandard, humorous) | shoop |
| alternative form (obsolete) | sheepe |
Origin of sheep
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 origin. 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. Cognates Cognate with Scots sheep (“sheep”), Yola sheep, zheep (“sheep”), North Frisian schep, schäip, Sjip (“sheep”), Saterland Frisian Schäip, Skäip (“sheep”), West Frisian skiep (“sheep”), Alemannic German Schaf, Schooff (“sheep”), Bavarian Schof, Schouf, Schåf (“sheep”), Dutch schaap (“sheep”), German Schaf (“sheep”), German Low German Schaap (“sheep”), Limburgish Schoëp, sjaop (“sheep”), Luxembourgish Schof (“sheep”), Vilamovian siöf (“sheep”), Yiddish שאָף (shof, “sheep”).
Words formed from sheep
- 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-rumped sheep
- fat-tailed sheep
- geep
- giraffe sheep
- iSheep
- Jacob sheep
- leaf sheep
- lost sheep
- Marco Polo sheep
- microsheep
- mountain sheep
- Nairobi sheep disease
- nonsheep
- one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb
- Rocky Mountain sheep
- run sheep run
- scabby sheep
- separate the sheep from the goats
- sheepback
- sheep-bell
- sheepberry
- sheep-biter
- sheep-biting
- sheepcote
- sheep crab
- sheep creep
- sheep-dip
- sheep dog
- sheepdog
- sheepdom
- sheep drowner
- sheep-faced
- sheep farmer
- sheepflesh
- sheepfold
- sheepfucker
- sheep-headed
- sheepherder
- sheepherding
- sheephook
- sheephouse
- sheep in wolf's clothing
- sheepish
- sheep ked
- sheepkind
- sheep laurel
- sheeple
- sheepless
Phrases with sheep
- sheep dogs
- sheep keds
- sheep lice
- sheep milk
- sheep tick
- sheep walk
- sheep wash
- snow sheep
- Sheep Eater
- Sheep Hills
- sheep louse
- sheep milks
29 more phrasesFewer phrases
- sheep ticks
- Stone sheep
- white sheep
- Xalda sheep
- counts sheep
- Sheep Eaters
- sheep sorrel
- counted sheep
- sheep farmers
- sheep measles
- sheep shagger
- sheep station
- Spanish sheep
- counting sheep
- sheep drowners
- sheep polypore
- sheep shaggers
- sheep stations
- thinhorn sheep
- sheep polypores
- vegetable sheep
- Welsh Sheep Dog
- Wallachian sheep
- sheep liver fluke
- sheep liver flukes
- Welsh Mountain sheep
- wolf guarding the sheep
- sheep in wolves' clothing
- wolves guarding the sheep
Words that rhyme with sheep
Questions about sheep
- What does sheep mean?
- Sheep means a woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
- What is sheep in Hindi?
- Sheep in Hindi is भेड़ (bheṛ), मेष (meṣ), शर्मीला मनुष्य (śarmīlā manuṣya). See Sheep meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sheep?
- Sheep is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sheep?
- Sheep is pronounced /ˈʃiːp/.
- What is the plural of sheep?
- The plural of sheep is sheep.
Words near sheep in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sheep (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-uk-a sheep.ogg, En-us-sheep.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sheep.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sheep. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.