sheik

English edit

Alternative forms edit

sheikh, shaykh

Etymology edit

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”).

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ʃeɪk/, /ʃik/
Rhymes: -eɪk
Homophones: shake, chic (different pronunciations)

Noun edit

sheik (plural sheiks)

The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.
An Islamic religious cleric; the leader of an Islamic religious order.
- 2013 August 1, Islamic Online University Insights‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2021, page 10:
  He then studied under a variety of scholars (shuyook) and institutes around the world in his quest for authentic knowledge.
(some Arab Gulf countries) An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
(1920s) A romantic lover. (from the 1921 film The Sheik)
- 1939, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, part 1, chapter 1:
  When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end.
(slang) An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing.
An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.

Usage notes edit

The title is commonly used for religious leaders as a means of respect, in which case it does not imply an official status.

Related terms edit

sheikha

Translations edit

leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe

Albanian: sheik (sq) m
Arabic: شَيْخ (ar) m (šayḵ)
Egyptian Arabic: شيخ m (šēḵ)
Armenian: շեյխ (hy) (šeyx)
Avar: шайих (šajix)
Azerbaijani: şeyx
Belarusian: шэйх m (šejx)
Bengali: শেখ (bn) (śekh)
Bulgarian: шейх m (šejh)
Catalan: xeic (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 謝赫／谢赫 (xièhè), 酋長／酋长 (zh) (qiúzhǎng)
Czech: šejk (cs) m, šejch m, šajch m
Dutch: sheik m
Esperanto: ŝejko
Estonian: šeik (et)
Finnish: šeikki (fi), sheikki
French: cheik (fr) m
Galician: xeque m
Georgian: შეიხი (šeixi)
German: Scheich (de) m
Greek: σεΐχης (el) m (seḯchis)
Gujarati: શેખ m (śekh)
Hebrew: שייח׳ / שֵׁיח m (sheykh)
Hindi: शैख़ m (śaix), शेख (hi) m (śekh)
Hungarian: sejk (hu)
Icelandic: sjeik m
Ido: sheiko (io)
Indonesian: syekh (id)
Italian: sceicco (it)
Japanese: シャイフ (shaifu), シェイフ (sheifu)
Kazakh: шайқы (şaiqy)
Korean: 샤이크 (syaikeu)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شێخ (ckb) (şêx)

Northern Kurdish: şêx (ku)
Kyrgyz: шайык (ky) (şayık)
Macedonian: ше́ик m (šéik)
Malay: syeikh (ms)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sjeik m

Nynorsk: sjeik m
Pashto: شيخ m (šayx)
Persian:
Classical Persian: شَیْخ (fa) (šayx)

Iranian Persian: شِیخ (fa) (šeyx)
Polish: szejk (pl) m
Portuguese: xeque (pt) m
Romanian: șeic (ro)
Russian: шейх (ru) m (šejx)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ше̏ик m

Roman: šȅik (sh) m
Slovak: šejk m
Slovene: šejk m
Spanish: jeque (es) m
Swedish: schejk (sv), shejk (sv) c
Tagalog: heke
Tajik: шайх (tg) (šayx)
Turkish: şeyh (tr)
Turkmen: şeyh
Ukrainian: шейх m (šejx)
Urdu: شَیخ m (śaix)
Uyghur: شەيخ (sheyx)
Uzbek: shayx (uz)
Yiddish: שייך m (sheykh)

Islamic religious clergy

Arabic: شَيْخ (ar) m (šayḵ)
Egyptian Arabic: شيخ m (šēḵ)
Armenian: շեյխ (hy) (šeyx)
Avar: шайих (šajix)
Bengali: শেখ (bn) (śekh)
Bulgarian: шейх m (šejh)
Chichewa: shehe
Czech: šejk (cs) m, šejch m, šajch m
Dutch: sheik m
Finnish: šeikki (fi)
Georgian: შეიხი (šeixi)
German: Scheich (de) m
Greek: σεΐχης (el) m (seḯchis)
Gujarati: શેખ m (śekh)
Hindi: शैख़ m (śaix), शेख (hi) m (śekh)
Hungarian: sejk (hu)
Japanese: シャイフ (shaifu), シェイフ (sheifu)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شێخ (ckb) (şêx)

Northern Kurdish: şêx (ku)
Macedonian: ше́ик m (šéik)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sjeik m

Nynorsk: sjeik m
Persian:
Classical Persian: شَیْخ (fa) (šayx)

Iranian Persian: شِیخ (fa) (šeyx)
Portuguese: xeque (pt) m
Russian: шейх (ru) m (šejx)
Spanish: jeque (es) m
Swahili: shehe
Swedish: shejk (sv) c, schejk (sv) c
Tagalog: heke
Tajik: шайх (tg) (šayx)
Urdu: شَیخ m (śaix)
Uyghur: شەيخ (sheyx)
Yao: shehe