shepherd

Syllables: shep·herdUK/ˈʃɛpəd//ˈʃɛpəɹd/

shepherd noun: a person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.

Image: friend of Darwinek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

shepherd (plural shepherds)

(countable) A person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.
- It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01
Synonyms:

pastor
1. (countable) A male sheep tender
(countable, figuratively) Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.
- The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.1769, Oxford Standard text, Bible (King James), Psalms 23:1
1. (countable, figuratively) A male watcher/guardian/guider/leader
(countable, figuratively) The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.
1. (countable, figuratively) A male pastor
(countable, poetic) A swain; a rustic male lover.
(countable) A German Shepherd.
- The dirt floor, low ceiling and unfinished stone walls were barely illuminated by candles and a dim string of green decorative lights. A nervous shepherd mix barked at me as a woman tried to calm it. When my eyes adjusted, I saw people in corners.2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine

Verb

shepherd (third-person singular simple present shepherds, present participle shepherding, simple past and past participle shepherded)

(transitive) To watch over; to guide.
- For me has Pain, the sentinel, / Been vigilant / To pace my plot and dwell / Within my tent; / Oft in the night with small alarms / Has stirred me out of rest, / Alert, oppressed, / Till shepherded within thine arms / And on thy breast, / O loving Lady, in the curse of Pain / I have been blest— /...1893, Norman Gale, “In Pain”, in Orchard Songs, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews & John Lane; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 34–35
- Each entry in this volume was assigned to a different preeminent scholar who was responsible for shepherding that specific entry, and that specific entry alone, into being.2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page viii
(transitive, Australian rules football) To obstruct an opponent from getting to the ball, either when a teammate has it or is going for it, or if the ball is about to bounce through the goal or out of bounds.

Proper noun capitalized: Shepherd

Shepherd (countable and uncountable, plural Shepherds)

An English surname originating as an occupation.
A male given name.
An unincorporated community in Boone County, Indiana.
A village in Isabella County, Michigan.
A census-designated place in Yellowstone County, Montana.
A city in San Jacinto County, Texas.

shepherd meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

shepherd in Hindi

a person who tends sheep: गड़ेरिया gaṛeriyā, चूपान cūpān

shepherd in Tamil

ஆடு மேய்ப்பவர், மக்களுக்கு நல்வழி காட்டுபவர், இடையன், மேய்ப்பர்

shepherd in Marathi

मेंढपाळ, मेंढपाळ करण्यासाठी

shepherd in Urdu

a person who tends sheep: چوپان cūpān

More languagesFewer languages

shepherd in Bengali: মেষপালক, পশুপালক, মেষপাল, যাজক
shepherd in Telugu: గొర్రెల కాపరి, గొర్రెల కాపరుడు, గొర్రెల కాపరు
shepherd in Malayalam: ഇടയൻ iṭayaṉ
shepherd in Kannada: ಕುರುಬ kuruba
shepherd in Punjabi: ਚਰਵਾਹਾ, ਚਰਵਾਹੇ, ਅਯਾਲੀ
shepherd in Gujarati: ઘેટાંપાળક gheṭā̃pāḷak
shepherd in Odia: ମେଷପାଳକ
shepherd in Sanskrit: अविपाल avipāla
shepherd in Assamese: ভেৰাৰখীয়া bherarokhia
shepherd in Nepali: गोठालो, गोठाला, शेफर्ड
shepherd in Pashto: شپون špon, špun
shepherd in Arabic: رَاعٍ rāʕin
shepherd in Malay: gembala, penggembala
shepherd in Persian: چوپان čupân, چوپون čupun, شبان šobân, šabân, شوان šovân, šavân
shepherd in Thai: เมษบาล mêet-sà-baan, คนเลี้ยง
shepherd in Vietnamese: người chăn cừu
shepherd in Myanmar: သိုးထိန်း sui:htin:

Examples of shepherd in a sentence

The shepherds compelled the stray sheep into the fold as night began to fall.
The shepherds use dirtbikes to move about the ranch, patrolling distant fields and pastures.
Under an oak were lying asleep a pair of shepherds.

All 40 example sentences with shepherd

Synonyms of shepherd

pastor

Forms of shepherd

Noun
plural	shepherds
Verb
third-person singular present	shepherds
present participle	shepherding
past participle	shepherded
past	shepherded
Proper noun
plural	Shepherds
alternative form	Shepard
alternative form	Shephard
alternative form	Sheppard
alternative form	Shepperd

Plural of shepherd: shepherds

Origin of shepherd

From Middle English schepherde, from Old English sċēaphierde, a compound of sċēap (“sheep”) and hierde (“herdsman”), equivalent to modern sheep + herd (“herder”).

From shepherd.

Words formed from shepherd

Questions about shepherd

What does shepherd mean?: Shepherd means a person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.
What is shepherd in Hindi?: Shepherd in Hindi is गड़ेरिया (gaṛeriyā), चूपान (cūpān). See Shepherd meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is shepherd?: Shepherd can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce shepherd?: Shepherd is pronounced /ˈʃɛpəd/ (UK).
What is the plural of shepherd?: The plural of shepherd is shepherds.

Words near shepherd in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: shepherd (page history and authors); Shepherd (page history and authors); shepherd (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shepherd (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shepherd (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shepherd (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഇടയൻ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕುರುಬ (Kannada) (page history and authors); shepherd (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ઘેટાંપાળક (Gujarati) (page history and authors); shepherd (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shepherd (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

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

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