sheep

CEFRA1

/ˈʃiːp/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A farm animal kept for its wool or meat.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A member of the domestic species Ovis aries, the most well-known species of Ovis.

Examples

  • And he chased the cattle, the sheep, and the people out of the temple.

  • Sheep were kept for their wool and meat.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.

  2. A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.

  3. Sheepskin leather.

More examples

In context

  • We cannot separate the sheep from the goats by appearance.

  • There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly.

  • 1990, Dave Mustaine, "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", Megadeth, Rust in Peace. And fools like me, who cross the sea and come to foreign lands / Ask the sheep, for their beliefs do you kill on God's command?

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The farmer counted his flock and found that one blank was missing from the pasture.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

Inherited from Middle English schep, schepe, from Anglian Old English sċēp (West Saxon sċēap), from Proto-West Germanic *skāp, from Proto-Germanic *skēpą, of unknown origin. Perhaps from the same Scythian word (compare Ossetian цӕу (cæw, “goat”), Persian چپش (čapiš, “yearling goat”)) which was borrowed into Albanian as cjap, sqap (“buck”) and into Slavic (compare Polish cap). After Kroonen, *skēpą is instead from the root of Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scratch”) via Kluge's law. Cognates Cognate with Scots sheep (“sheep”), Yola sheep, zheep (“sheep”), North Frisian schep, schäip, Sjip (“sheep”), Saterland Frisian Schäip, Skäip (“sheep”), West Frisian skiep (“sheep”), Alemannic German Schaf...