sheepish - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English schepische, shepisse, shepisshe; equivalent to sheep +‎ -ish.

• IPA(key): /ˈʃiːpɪʃ/

sheepish (comparative more sheepish, superlative most sheepish)

1. Having the characteristics of a sheep, as meekness, shyness, or docility.
   • 2025 May 11, Monica Padrick, “Don Tyxote” (15:04 from the start), in Krapopolis‎[1], season 2, episode 21, spoken by Tyrannis (Richard Ayoade):
     “King Ty? Your sister is back.” “I don't want to talk to her unless she's here to apologize. Does she look sheepish?” “I guess I've seen a sheep in a cage before, so, yeah, kind of.”
2. Shy, meek, ashamed or embarrassed.
   a sheepish girl
   a sheepish grin

• sheepishly
• sheepishness

having the characteristics of a sheep

shy, meek, shameful or embarrassed

• Bulgarian: стеснителен (bg) (stesnitelen), смутен (bg) (smuten)
• Danish: fåret, flov (da)
• Dutch: schaapachtig (nl) n
• French: penaud (fr)
• Greek: ντροπαλός (el) (ntropalós)
• Hiligaynon: torpe
• Khmer: អៀន (km) (iǝn)
• Māori: whakakumu
• Norman: peîneux
• Polish: zawstydzony (pl), zakłopotany (pl), zmieszany (pl)
• Romanian: bleg (ro), sfială (ro), sfios (ro) m, sfioasă f, jenă (ro)
• Russian: ро́бкий (ru) (róbkij), засте́нчивый (ru) (zasténčivyj)
• Scots: blate
• Scottish Gaelic: nàireach
• Swedish: fåraktig (sv)
• Turkish:
  Ottoman Turkish: اوتانغاچ (utangaç), محجوب (mahcub)