sheikh

/ʃeɪk/

sheikh noun: the leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.

Noun (1)

sheikh (plural sheikhs)

The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.
- Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 120
An Islamic religious cleric; the master of a Sufi order.
- He then studied under a variety of scholars (shuyook) and institutes around the world in his quest for authentic knowledge.2013 January 8, Islamic Online University Insights, archived from the original on 25 Oct 2021, page 10
(some Arab Gulf countries) An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
(archaic, slang) A romantic lover.
- When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end.1939, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, part 1, chapter 1
(slang) An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing.
A member of one of the three hereditary, traditionally endogamous Yazidi castes, taking certain spiritual and leadership roles.
An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.

Noun (2) capitalized: Sheikh

Sheikh (plural Sheikhs)

The title of a sheikh.
- The Makaddam of Dhaboot, Sheikh Awadth, is a fine-looking old man, and seemed much gratified at the recognition by Government of his kindness to the sailors. Two of the headmen of Nishton, Sheikhs Muhammad and Moosa, who happened to be here, received their presents at the same time as Sheikh Awadth.1885, Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1884-85 (Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department; No....
Alternative letter-case form of sheikh (Yazidi caste)

Proper noun capitalized: Sheikh

Sheikh

A surname from Arabic

sheikh meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

sheikh in Hindi

leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe: शैख़ śaix, शेख śekh
Islamic religious clergy: शैख़ śaix, शेख śekh

sheikh in Tamil

ஷேக், ஷெய்க்

sheikh in Marathi

शेख

sheikh in Urdu

leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe: شَیخ śaix
Islamic religious clergy: شَیخ śaix

More languagesFewer languages

sheikh in Bengali: শেখ śekh
sheikh in Telugu: షేక్, షేఖ్, షైఖ్
sheikh in Malayalam: ഷെയ്ഖ്, ഷേഖ്, ഷെയ്ക്ക്
sheikh in Kannada: ಶೇಖ್, ಶೈಖ್
sheikh in Punjabi: ਸ਼ੇਖ, ਸ਼ੇਖ਼
sheikh in Gujarati: શેખ śekh
sheikh in Odia: ଶେଖ୍, ଶେଖ
sheikh in Nepali: शेख
sheikh in Pashto: شيخ šayx
sheikh in Tagalog: heke
sheikh in Arabic: شَيْخ šayḵ
sheikh in Malay: syeikh
sheikh in Indonesian: syekh

Forms of sheikh

plural	sheikhs
alternative form	sheik
alternative form	shaykh
plural	Sheikhs

Plural of sheikh: sheikhs

Origin of sheikh

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”). Sense 4 (“a romantic lover”) is from the 1921 film The Sheik.

Words formed from sheikh

Phrases with sheikh

Words that rhyme with sheikh

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sheikh

What does sheikh mean?: Sheikh means the leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.
What is sheikh in Hindi?: Sheikh in Hindi is शैख़ (śaix), शेख (śekh). See Sheikh meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is sheikh?: Sheikh can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sheikh?: Sheikh is pronounced /ʃeɪk/.
What is the plural of sheikh?: The plural of sheikh is sheikhs.

Words near sheikh in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-sheik.wav.

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