"S" Word Origins

shallow

Old English

From Middle English schalowe, related to Old English sceald ("shallow").

shalom

Arabic

From Hebrew shalom ("peace, well-being"), a doublet of Arabic "salaam", which entered English separately.

sham

Origin

Probably a dialect form of "shame".

shaman

German

Borrowed via German and Russian from a Tungusic language of Siberia; ultimately possibly related to a word meaning "to know", or to Buddhist terms for a monk.

shamble

Origin

From Middle English schambyll, shamyll, schamel, from Old English sċeamol, scamol (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil, from Proto-Germanic *skamulaz, *skamilaz, from Latin scamellum, a variant of scabellum (“footstool”). Cognate with West Frisian skammel (“shamble, trestle, stool", also (in the plural) "legs, especially when showing defects or deformities”), Dutch schemel (“footstool, bench”), German Schemel (“stool”), Danish skammel (“stool”). Icelandic skemill (“footstool”). The verb is probably derived from the adjective, itself from attributive use of the noun. Compare West Frisian skammelje (“to walk with a swaying gait, especially on deformed legs”).

shambles

Old English

From Old English sceamol ("bench, stool"), which came to mean a butcher's bench, then a slaughterhouse, then a scene of disorder or carnage.

shambo

French

A shortened form of the French surname Archambault, with the first syllable dropped over time.

shame

Old English

From Old English sceamu, going back to a common Germanic root for the feeling of shame.

shamefaced

Origin

Alteration (due to folk etymology: shame + faced) of shamefast, from Middle English schamefast, schamfast, sceomefest, from Old English sċamfæst (“modest”), equivalent to shame + fast. Synchronically with -faced (/ˈfeɪst/).

shameful

Old English

From Old English sceamfull, built from shame plus the suffix -ful, literally "full of shame."

shamefully

Origin

From shameful plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

shameless

Old English

From Old English sceamleas, "without shame" — shame plus the suffix -less.

shamelessly

Origin

From shameless plus -ly.

shammer

Origin

From sham + -er.

shammy

Origin

From chamois with an initial sh to represent the sound /ʃ/ in English.

shampoo

Hindi

From Hindi champo, an instruction meaning "press!" or "knead!", from a verb for massaging the body — it originally described a warm-water body massage before it came to mean hair washing in English.

shamrock

Irish

From Irish seamróg, a diminutive of the word for clover.

shamus

Irish

American slang, said to come from the Irish name Seamus, reflecting how many early American police officers were Irish immigrants.

shan

Origin

Origin uncertain; the adjective sense may derive from "shand" ("worthless"), possibly via Romani.

Shana

French

An anglicized variant of the Welsh Siân (itself a pet form, Siana), sometimes also linked to the French name Jeanne.

Shane

Latin

An anglicized spelling of the Northern Irish pronunciation of Seán, tracing back through Old French Jehan and Latin Johannes to the Hebrew name meaning "God is gracious" — making it a relative of John and Jack.

shang

Origin

From Mandarin 商 (Shāng), the name of the dynasty.

shanghai

Chinese · 1871

From the Chinese port city of Shanghai; the verb arose around 1871 from the practice of press-ganging men onto ships bound for long Pacific voyages.

shank

Old English

From Old English sceanca, "leg," related to old Germanic words for leg or thigh.

Shankar

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit शंकर (śaṃkara), "one who gives happiness," also an epithet of the god Shiva.

Shannon

Irish

From Irish Sionainn, the name of the river; the surname is an anglicized form of Ó Seanaigh.

shanti

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit शान्ति (śānti), "calmness, peace, tranquility," from a root meaning to be calm or satisfied.

shanty

French

The building sense probably comes from Canadian French chantier, "lumberjack's camp"; the sea-song sense has a separate, less certain origin, possibly related to French chanter, "to sing."

shantytown

Origin

From shanty + town.

Shanxi

Origin

From Mandarin 山西 (Shānxī), literally "[land] west of the mountains," referring to the Taihang range.

shanzhai

Origin

First use appears c. 2000s, from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 山寨 (shānzhài), literally mountain fort, suggesting a lair of bandits or counterfeiters.

Shao

Origin

From the Wade–Giles and Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of various Chinese surnames.

Shaolin

Origin

From Mandarin 少林 (Shàolín), the name of the monastery.

shape

Old English

From Old English gesceap, "form, creation," related to an old Germanic root meaning "to create."

shaped

Middle English

From Middle English schaped, ischaped, equivalent to shape + -ed.

shapeless

Origin

From shape plus the suffix -less, "without."

shapely

Middle English

From Middle English schaply, "well-formed," built from shape plus -ly.

shapen

Origin

From Middle English schapen, ischepen, from Old English ġesċapen, from Proto-Germanic *skapanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *skapaną, equivalent to shape + -en (past participle ending).

shapeshifter

Origin

A compound of shape and shifter, from the verb to shift, "to change."

shaping

Middle English

From Middle English schapynge, formed from shape plus the suffix -ing.

Shapiro

German

From Yiddish שאַפּיראָ (shapiro), derived from the medieval name for Speyer, Germany; related forms include Spira, Spiro, and Sapir.

Shaquille

Arabic

A stylized spelling based on Arabic شَكِيل (šakīl), meaning "handsome."

shard

Old English

From Old English sceard, "a broken piece," related to an old root meaning "to cut."

share

Old English

From Old English scearu, "a cutting, a division," from an old root meaning "to cut or divide" — the same root behind shear and shard.

shareholder

Origin

A compound of share and holder — literally "one who holds shares."

Shari

Japanese

The sushi-rice sense comes from Japanese 舎利 (shari).

sharia

Arabic

From Arabic shari'a, literally "the path" or "way," referring originally to a path to a water source.

sharif

Arabic

From Arabic شَرِيف (šarīf), "noble" or "honorable."