sheep

English

A domestic sheep

Etymology

From Middle English sheep, scheep, schep, schepe, from Old English scēap, from Proto-Germanic *skēpą (compare West Frisian skiep, North Frisian schäip (in the Fering-Öömrang dialect, sjep; in the Sölring dialect, sjip; in the Heligoland dialect, skeap), Dutch schaap, German Schaf), beside *keppôn (compare Old Norse kjappi (“he-goat”), dialectal German Kippe (“newborn calf”)), of unknown origin. Perhaps from the same Scythian word (compare Ossetian цæу (cæw, “goat”), Persian چپش (čapiš, “yearling goat”))^[1] which was borrowed into Albanian as cjap, sqap (“he-goat”) and into Slavic (compare Polish cap).

Pronunciation

Noun

sheep (plural sheep)

A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.
Plural form of shoop

Synonyms

See also Wikisaurus:sheep

Derived terms

sheepish
sheepskin
shoop (chiefly-humorous back-formation)

Descendants

Abenaki: azib (from "(a) sheep")

Translations

animal

Acehnese: bubiri
Afrikaans: skaap (af)
Ainu: ヒチュチ (hicuci)
Albanian: dele (sq) f
Arabic: خروف (ar) (xarūf) m (both ram and sheep)
Egyptian Arabic: خروف (xarūf) m

Moroccan Arabic: غْنم (ghnem) f, شيا (chia) pl
Armenian: ոչխար (hy) (očʿxar)
Asturian: oveya (ast) f
Azeri: qoyun (az)
Bakhtiari: میش (mēš)
Balinese: biri-biri
Baluchi: میش (mēš), پس (pas)
Bashkir: һарыҡ (harıq)
Basque: ardi
Batak Dairi: biri-biri
Batak Karo: biri-biri
Belarusian: авечка (be) (avjéčka) f
Bengali: ভেড়া (bn) (bheŗa), মেষ (bn) (mesh)
Breton: dañvad (br) m, maout (br) m, dañvadez (br)
Bulgarian: овца (bg) (ovcá) f
Burmese: သိုး (my) (tho:), ဆိတ်ကုလား (my) (hseikkăla:)
Catalan: ovella (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 綿羊 (cmn), 绵羊 (cmn) (miányáng), 羊 (cmn) (yáng)
Chiricahua: dibéhé
Crimean Tatar: qoy
Czech: ovce (cs) f
Danish: får (da) n
Dutch: schaap (nl) n, schapen (nl) pl
Esperanto: ŝafo (eo)
Estonian: lammas (et)
Ewe: alẽ
Faroese: seyður (fo)
Finnish: lammas (fi)
French: mouton (fr) m
Friulian: piore, fede
Galician: ovella (gl) f
Gamilaraay: thimba
Georgian: ცხვარი (ka) (c'xvari)
German: Schaf (de) n
Greek: πρόβατο (el) (próvato) n
Ancient Greek: ὄϊς (oïs) m and f
Greenlandic: sava (kl)
Guaraní: ovecha
Gujarati: ઘેટું (gu) (gheṭuṁ)
Hebrew: כֶּבֶשׂ (he) (kéves) m, כבשים (he) (kvasím) pl
Hindi: भेड़ (hi) (bheṛ) f, मेष (hi) (meṣ) m (both ram and sheep)
Hungarian: juh (hu), birka (hu)
Icelandic: sauður (is) m, sauðkind (is) f, kind (is) f, fé (is) n (collective), sauðfé (is) n (collective), ær (is) f (ewe)
Ido: mutono (io)
Indonesian: domba (id), biri-biri (id)
Ingrian: lammaz, utoi
Interlingua: ove
Irish: caora (ga) f
Italian: pecora (it) f
Japanese: 羊 (ja) (ひつじ, hitsují)
Jicarilla: dibé
Jurchen: honi
Jèrriais: mouton m
Kazakh: қой (kk) (qoy)
Khmer: ចៀម (km) (chiem)
Korean: 양 (ko) (yang), 면양 (ko) (myeonyang)
Kurdish: mî (ewe), mih (ewe), beran (ram), pez (both), berx (little), berindir (young), beyindir (young), مه‌ڕ
Kyrgyz: кой (ky) (koy)
Ladin: biescia
Lao: ແກະ (lo) (kë')
Latgalian: vuška f
Latin: ovis (la) f
Latvian: aita (lv), avs (lv) f
Laz: ჩხური (č’xuri)
Lithuanian: avis (lt)
Lower Sorbian: wójca f

Luganda: endiga
Luhya: likhese, likhese
Lusitanian: oilam
Luxembourgish: Schof (lb) n
Macedonian: овца (mk) (óvca) f
Makasar: biri-biri
Malay: biri-biri (ms), bebiri (ms), kambing biri-biri (ms), kambing bebiri (ms)
Maltese: nagħġa (mt), nagħaġ (mt) pl
Maranao: bili-bili
Mazanderani: گاسفند (gâsfand)
Mingrelian: შხური (šxuri)
Nahuatl: ichcatl (nah)
Navajo: dibé
Nepali: भेंडा (ne) (bheṇḍā)
Nias: biri-biri
Norwegian: sau (no) m, får (no) n
Occitan: feda (oc) f
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: овьца (ovĭca) f

Glagolitic: ⰑⰂⰠⰜⰀ (ovĭca) f
Old Irish: cáera f
Persian: گوسفند (fa) (gosfand), میش (fa) (miš), قوچ (fa) (quč)
Polish: owca (pl) f
Portuguese: ovelha (pt) f
Rohingya: sóol
Romani: bakri f, bakro m
Romanian: oaie (ro)
Romansch: nursa
Russian: овца (ru) (ovcá) f, овечка (ru) (ovéčka) f
Sami: sávza
Sanskrit: अवि (sa) (avi) m and f
Sardinian: brebei, barveghe, chessi, tzicca
Scottish Gaelic: caora (gd) f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: овца (sh) f, ован (sh) m, јагње (sh) n (lamb), јање (sh) n (Croatian)

Roman: ovca (sh) f, ovan (sh) m, jagnje (sh) n (lamb), janje (sh) n (Croatian)
Simeulue: biri-biri
Sinhalese: බැටළුවා (si) (bæṭaḷuvā)
Slovak: ovca (sk) f
Slovene: ôvca (sl) f, ôven (sl) m
Spanish: oveja (es) f
Sumerian: 𒇻 (UDU)
Swahili: kondoo (sw)
Swedish: får (sv) n
Tagalog: tupa (tl)
Tajik: гӯсфанд (tg) (güsfand)
Talysh:
Asalemi: پس (pas)
Taos: k’úona
Tatar: сарык (tt) (sarıq)
Telugu: గొర్రె (te) (gorre)
Thai: แกะ (th) (kae)
Tok Pisin: sipsip (tpi)
Tswana: nku (tn) (9/10)
Turkish: koyun (tr)
Turkmen: goýun (tk)
Tuvan: хой (khoj)
Ukrainian: вівця (uk) (vivcjá) f
Upper Sorbian: wowca f
Urdu: بھیڑ (ur) (bheṛ) f, گوسفند (ur) (gosfand) f, میش (ur) (meṣ) m (both ram and sheep)
Uyghur: قوي (ug) (qoy)
Uzbek: qo'y (uz), go'sfand (uz)
Vietnamese: cừu (vi)
Volapük: (♂♀) jip (vo), (♂) hijip (vo), (♀) jijip (vo), (♂♀ offspring) jipül (vo), (♂ offspring) hijipül (vo), (♀ offspring) jijipül (vo), (castrated ♂) hojip (vo), (neutered ♀) jojip (vo), (castrated ♂ offspring) hojipül (vo), (neutered ♀ offspring) jojipül (vo), (collective, ♂♀) jipem (vo)
Votic: lammaz
Walloon: bedot (wa) m, moton (wa) m
Welsh: dafad (cy) f, defaid (cy) pl
West Frisian: skiep
Western Apache: dibéé, dobéé, dibéłįį, bee’é, mee’é, mę’é
Wolof: xar mi (wo)
Yiddish: שאָף (yi) (shof)
Zulu: imvu (zu)

shy person

Esperanto: ŝafoj pl, timidulo (plural: timiduloj)
Finnish: hiirulainen (fi)
Greek: πρόβατο (el) (próvato) n
Hindi: शर्मीला मनुष्य (hi)
Indonesian: pemalu (id)
Interlingua: persona docile, persona submisse
Italian: pecora (it) f
Lithuanian: avelė (lt) m and f

Persian: بزدل (fa) (bozdel)
Portuguese: pessoa submissa f, pusilânime m and f
Russian: овца (ru) (ovcá) f, овечка (ru) (ovéčka) f, ягнёнок (ru) (jagnjónok) m, агнец (ru) (ágnec) m
Scottish Gaelic: caora
Spanish: pusilánime m and f, papanatas m and f
Telugu: గొర్రె (gorre)