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sheep

n.
US //ˈʃip// UK //ʃˈiːp// sheep
  1. 1 a follower (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Informal

    a person who always follows what others do or say without thinking for themselves.

    a person who is easily led, influenced, or controlled by others, lacking individual initiative or critical thought.

    Example

    Don't be a sheep and just buy that phone because everyone else has one.

    Example

    The critic dismissed the crowd as mere sheep, claiming they only praised the film because it was fashionable to do so.
  2. 2 religious members (n.)
    C1 Advanced Literary Religion

    the people who belong to a church or religious group.

    members of a religious congregation, often used in relation to a 'pastor' or 'shepherd'.

    Example

    The priest spoke kindly to his sheep during the Sunday service.

    Example

    The sermon was designed to offer comfort to the sheep of the parish during a time of great economic uncertainty.
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. 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, Schooff (“sheep”), Bavarian Schof, Schouf, Schåf (“sheep”), Dutch schaap (“sheep”), German Schaf (“sheep”), German Low German Schaap (“sheep”), Limburgish Schoëp, sjaop (“sheep”), Luxembourgish Schof (“sheep”), Vilamovian siöf (“sheep”), Yiddish שאָף (shof, “sheep”).

Word family
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