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Added 8 October 2026

sheep

/ˈʃiːp/ noun

In Latin: ovis Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sheep at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
A member of the domestic species Ovis aries, the most well-known species of Ovis.
A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.

noun

plural of shoop

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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