sheen

CEFRC2

/ʃiːn/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A soft shine on a surface.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Clear, pure, clean; noble, illustrious; (by extension) innocent, chaste.

Examples

  • The thin layer of oil at the top of the soup produced a mesmerizing sheen.

  • Asked if he was bipolar, Charlie Sheen replied that he was "bi-winning."

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Splendor; radiance; shininess.

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Beautiful, good-looking, attractive; radiant; shiny.

  2. Beautiful, good-looking, attractive, fair; bright, radiant; shiny.

More examples

In context

  • Up rose each warrier bold and brave, / Glistening in filed steel and armor sheen.

  • The doleful Dumps I sing, and tearful Woes, Of Marian teeming with unlawful Throes: The sheenest Lass in Berkshire was she known, Of all that Butter fell to Reading Town: […]

  • This town, / That, sheening far, celestial seems to be.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The polished silver had a bright blank that reflected the light from the window perfectly.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English shene, schene, from Old English sċīene (“beautiful, fair, bright, brilliant, light”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaunī, from Proto-Germanic *skauniz (“beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁-. Cognate with Scots schene, scheine (“beautiful, fair, attractive”), Saterland Frisian skeen (“clean, pure”), West Frisian skjin (“nice, clean”), Dutch schoon (“clean, beautiful, fair”), German schön (“beautiful”), Danish skøn (“beautiful”), Norwegian Bokmål skjønn (“beautiful”), Norwegian Nynorsk skjønn (“beautiful”), Swedish skön (“beautiful, fine”). Compare also the loanword Finnish kaunis (“beautiful”). See also English show.