sheep

A1 Topic:Animals

US /ʃip/ UK /ʃiːp/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like ship /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Sounds like cheap /tʃ/ vs /ʃ/

Freq #3041

Meanings

1

noun
A farm animal with a thick woolly coat, kept for its wool and meat.

A flock of sheep grazed quietly on the hillside.
2

noun
A person who follows others without thinking for themselves.

The crowd followed the leader like sheep.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

ovis

Word family

Derived forms antisheepbitesheepgeepisheepmicrosheepnonsheepsheep-bellsheep-bitersheep-bitingsheep-dipsheep-facedsheep-headed

Related forms ariescoward ewehogglamb mutton ovine ram tegtupwether

Etymology

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…

schep Middle English sċēp ang-ang *skāp Proto-West Germanic *skēpą Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

External links

# sheep

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ʃip/
**IPA (UK):** /ʃiːp/
**Frequency rank:** 3041

## Meanings
1. A farm animal with a thick woolly coat, kept for its wool and meat.
2. A person who follows others without thinking for themselves.

## Examples
- A flock of sheep grazed quietly on the hillside.
- The crowd followed the leader like sheep.

## Synonyms
- ovis

## Derived Forms
- antisheep
- bitesheep
- geep
- isheep
- microsheep
- nonsheep
- sheep-bell
- sheep-biter
- sheep-biting
- sheep-dip
- sheep-faced
- sheep-headed

## Related Forms
- aries
- coward
- ewe
- hogg
- lamb
- mutton
- ovine
- ram
- teg
- tup
- wether

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: schep
- Root: sċēp
- Root: *skāp
- Root: *skēpą

## Etymology
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…

## AI Etymology
Sheep is 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. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English schep, ang-ang sċēp, Proto-West Germanic *skāp, Proto-Germanic *skēpą. In current use it includes senses such as A farm animal with a thick woolly coat, kept for its wool and meat and A person who follows others without thinking for themselves.

## Topics
- Animals

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sheep

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