schief.
skew, oblique, askew, leaning, slanting, aslant, inclined (neither parallel nor perpendicular)
Meaning & usage
skew, oblique, askew, leaning, slanting, aslant, inclined (neither parallel nor perpendicular)
slopy, sloping (characterised by a slope or slopes)
crooked, awry (set at an angle; not vertical or square)
lopsided (not even or balanced; not the same on one side as on the other)
wry (turned away, contorted)
distorted (misshapen; brought out of shape)
worn (damaged and shabby as a result of much use)
inappropriate (not suitable for the situation, time, or place)
Where this word comes from
From northern Middle High German schief, schīf (etc.), from Middle Low German schêf, from Old Saxon *skêf, from Proto-West Germanic *skaib, from Proto-Germanic *skaibaz. Regular High German cognates exist only in north-western Central German; compare Central Franconian scheif, northernmost Luxembourgish scheef. Otherwise it was borrowed from Low German into the colonial dialects, i.e. East Central German, with fallible phonetic interpretation of the original form (hence variously -ie-, -ī-, -ē-, -ei-, -b-, -f-, etc.). The word established itself in standard German during the 18th century. Cognate with Dutch scheef, Old English *sċ(e)āf (in sċāffōt), Old Norse skeifr.
crookedly, at an angle
lopsidedly
askance (sideways; obliquely)
badly, wrong (in a way that isn't right)
Where this word comes from
From northern Middle High German schief, schīf (etc.), from Middle Low German schêf, from Old Saxon *skêf, from Proto-West Germanic *skaib, from Proto-Germanic *skaibaz. Regular High German cognates exist only in north-western Central German; compare Central Franconian scheif, northernmost Luxembourgish scheef. Otherwise it was borrowed from Low German into the colonial dialects, i.e. East Central German, with fallible phonetic interpretation of the original form (hence variously -ie-, -ī-, -ē-, -ei-, -b-, -f-, etc.). The word established itself in standard German during the 18th century. Cognate with Dutch scheef, Old English *sċ(e)āf (in sċāffōt), Old Norse skeifr.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.