شيخ

See also: شیخ and سیخ

Arabic

Etymology

From the root ش ي خ (š-y-ḵ), related to the verb شَاخَ (šāḵa, “to age, to grow old”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃajx/
  • (Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ʃeːx/
  • (Hijazi) IPA^(key): /ʃeːx/, [ʃe̞ːx]

Noun

شَيْخ • (šayḵ) m (plural شُيُوخ (šuyūḵ) or أَشْيَاخ (ʔašyāḵ) or مَشْيَخَة (mašyaḵa) or مَشَايِخ (mašāyiḵ))

1. old man
2. elderly gentleman, elder
3. sheik, chief, chieftain, patriarch
4. senator
5. sheik; Dr.; professor (title of professors and spiritual leaders)
6. sir (respectful title of address)
7. master (someone outstanding or excellent)

   شَيْخُ الشَّباب ― šayḵu š-šabāb ― the greatest of all guys (literally, “the master of youths”)

Declension

Declension of noun شَيْخ (šayḵ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَيْخ šayḵ	الشَّيْخ aš-šayḵ	شَيْخ šayḵ
Nominative	شَيْخٌ šayḵun	الشَّيْخُ aš-šayḵu	شَيْخُ šayḵu
Accusative	شَيْخًا šayḵan	الشَّيْخَ aš-šayḵa	شَيْخَ šayḵa
Genitive	شَيْخٍ šayḵin	الشَّيْخِ aš-šayḵi	شَيْخِ šayḵi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَيْخَيْن šayḵayn	الشَّيْخَيْن aš-šayḵayn	شَيْخَيْ šayḵay
Nominative	شَيْخَانِ šayḵāni	الشَّيْخَانِ aš-šayḵāni	شَيْخَا šayḵā
Accusative	شَيْخَيْنِ šayḵayni	الشَّيْخَيْنِ aš-šayḵayni	شَيْخَيْ šayḵay
Genitive	شَيْخَيْنِ šayḵayni	الشَّيْخَيْنِ aš-šayḵayni	شَيْخَيْ šayḵay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote‎; broken plural triptote in ـَة (-a)‎; basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شُيُوخ‎; أَشْيَاخ‎; مَشْيَخَة‎; مَشَايِخ‎; مَشَائِخ šuyūḵ‎; ʔašyāḵ‎; mašyaḵa‎; mašāyiḵ‎; mašāʔiḵ	الشُّيُوخ‎; الْأَشْيَاخ‎; الْمَشْيَخَة‎; الْمَشَايِخ‎; الْمَشَائِخ aš-šuyūḵ‎; al-ʔašyāḵ‎; al-mašyaḵa‎; al-mašāyiḵ‎; al-mašāʔiḵ	شُيُوخ‎; أَشْيَاخ‎; مَشْيَخَة‎; مَشَايِخ‎; مَشَائِخ šuyūḵ‎; ʔašyāḵ‎; mašyaḵat‎; mašāyiḵ‎; mašāʔiḵ
Nominative	شُيُوخٌ‎; أَشْيَاخٌ‎; مَشْيَخَةٌ‎; مَشَايِخُ‎; مَشَائِخُ šuyūḵun‎; ʔašyāḵun‎; mašyaḵatun‎; mašāyiḵu‎; mašāʔiḵu	الشُّيُوخُ‎; الْأَشْيَاخُ‎; الْمَشْيَخَةُ‎; الْمَشَايِخُ‎; الْمَشَائِخُ aš-šuyūḵu‎; al-ʔašyāḵu‎; al-mašyaḵatu‎; al-mašāyiḵu‎; al-mašāʔiḵu	شُيُوخُ‎; أَشْيَاخُ‎; مَشْيَخَةُ‎; مَشَايِخُ‎; مَشَائِخُ šuyūḵu‎; ʔašyāḵu‎; mašyaḵatu‎; mašāyiḵu‎; mašāʔiḵu
Accusative	شُيُوخًا‎; أَشْيَاخًا‎; مَشْيَخَةً‎; مَشَايِخَ‎; مَشَائِخَ šuyūḵan‎; ʔašyāḵan‎; mašyaḵatan‎; mašāyiḵa‎; mašāʔiḵa	الشُّيُوخَ‎; الْأَشْيَاخَ‎; الْمَشْيَخَةَ‎; الْمَشَايِخَ‎; الْمَشَائِخَ aš-šuyūḵa‎; al-ʔašyāḵa‎; al-mašyaḵata‎; al-mašāyiḵa‎; al-mašāʔiḵa	شُيُوخَ‎; أَشْيَاخَ‎; مَشْيَخَةَ‎; مَشَايِخَ‎; مَشَائِخَ šuyūḵa‎; ʔašyāḵa‎; mašyaḵata‎; mašāyiḵa‎; mašāʔiḵa
Genitive	شُيُوخٍ‎; أَشْيَاخٍ‎; مَشْيَخَةٍ‎; مَشَايِخَ‎; مَشَائِخَ šuyūḵin‎; ʔašyāḵin‎; mašyaḵatin‎; mašāyiḵa‎; mašāʔiḵa	الشُّيُوخِ‎; الْأَشْيَاخِ‎; الْمَشْيَخَةِ‎; الْمَشَايِخِ‎; الْمَشَائِخِ aš-šuyūḵi‎; al-ʔašyāḵi‎; al-mašyaḵati‎; al-mašāyiḵi‎; al-mašāʔiḵi	شُيُوخِ‎; أَشْيَاخِ‎; مَشْيَخَةِ‎; مَشَايِخِ‎; مَشَائِخِ šuyūḵi‎; ʔašyāḵi‎; mašyaḵati‎; mašāyiḵi‎; mašāʔiḵi

Descendants

• Andalusian Arabic: شيخ (šéḵ)
  • → Catalan: xeic
  • → Old Spanish: xeque
    • Spanish: jeque
      • → Tagalog: heke
• Maltese: xiħ
• → Bengali: শেখ (śekh)
• → Chinese: 謝赫／谢赫 (xièhè)
• → Classical Syriac: ܫܝܟ (šayḵ)
• → Czech: šejk
• → Dutch: sjeik
• → English: sheik, sheikh
• → Esperanto: ŝejĥo
• → Estonian: šeik
• → French: cheikh
  • → Hungarian: sejk
• → German: Scheich
• → Hausa: shaihī̀, shēhū̀
• → Faroese: sjeikur
• → Italian: sceicco
• → Northern Kurdish: şêx
• → Norwegian Bokmål: sjeik
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: sjeik
• → Ottoman Turkish: شیخ (şeyh)
  • Turkish: şeyh
  • → Albanian: sheh
  • → Romanian: șeic
• → Persian: شیخ (šeyx)
  • → Azerbaijani: şeyx
  • → Kholosi: šēx
  • → Urdu: شیخ (śaix)
• → Polish: szejk
• → Portuguese: xeique, xeque
• → Russian: шейх (šejx)
• → Swahili: shehe, sheik
  • → Chichewa: shéhe
• → Swedish: shejk
• → Uyghur: شەيخ (sheyx)
• → Uzbek: shayx
• → Yiddish: שייך (sheykh)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “شيخ”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN