Word.ws English Dictionary

sheepfold

/ˈʃiːp.fəʊld/

sheepfold noun: an enclosure for keeping sheep.

sheepfold: an enclosure for keeping sheep
Image: Steve Partridge, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sheepfold (plural sheepfolds)

  1. An enclosure for keeping sheep.
    • If civilized life had covered over the ancient verities, Dumuzi learns in his tragic death that the sheepfold is still there to reclaim him.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 180
  2. A flock of sheep.
    • We weep because the Lord’s sheepfold is guarded by wolves; we despair because truth gasps for breath amid lies.2025 November 19, Vivian Ren (pseudonym), “The Weeping Believer: A Report from a Chinese Christian”, in Bitter Winter

sheepfold meaning in Tamil and Kannada

sheepfold in Tamil

sheepfold
பட்டி paṭṭi

sheepfold in Kannada

ಕುರಿದೊಡ್ಡಿ

Forms of sheepfold

pluralsheepfolds

Origin of sheepfold

Inherited from Middle English shepefald, perhaps from Late Old English sċēapa falde (literally “sheep's fold”), equivalent to sheep + fold.

Questions about sheepfold

What does sheepfold mean?
Sheepfold means an enclosure for keeping sheep.
What is sheepfold in Tamil?
Sheepfold in Tamil is பட்டி (paṭṭi). See Sheepfold meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is sheepfold?
Sheepfold is a noun.
How do you pronounce sheepfold?
Sheepfold is pronounced /ˈʃiːp.fəʊld/ (UK).
What is the plural of sheepfold?
The plural of sheepfold is sheepfolds.

Words near sheepfold in the dictionary

  1. sheepe
  2. Sheepeater
  3. Sheepeaters
  4. sheepfaced
  5. sheepflesh
  6. sheepfold
  7. sheepfolds
  8. sheepfucker
  9. sheepfuckers
  10. sheepgrass
  11. sheephead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sheepfold (page history and authors); பட்டி (Tamil) (page history and authors); sheepfold (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sheepfold.wav.

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