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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

shoo.

To induce someone or something to leave.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ʃuː/
  1. To induce someone or something to leave.

    informal · transitive
    Don't just shoo away mosquitoes, kill them!
    See if you can shoo off the insurance salesmen.
  2. To leave under inducement.

    informal · intransitive
    You kids had better shoo before your parents get a call.
  3. To usher someone.

    informal · rare
    Shoo the visitor in.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English schew, schowe, show, showe, scou (“shoo!”, interjection). Compare Middle High German schū, schuo (“shoo!”, interjection) (modern German scheu! (“shoo!”)), Dutch schuwen (“to shun”), German scheuchen (“to scare, drive away”).

intj/ʃuː/
  1. Go away! Clear off!

    informal
    Shoo, fly, don't bother me!
Where this word comes from

From Middle English schew, schowe, show, showe, scou (“shoo!”, interjection). Compare Middle High German schū, schuo (“shoo!”, interjection) (modern German scheu! (“shoo!”)), Dutch schuwen (“to shun”), German scheuchen (“to scare, drive away”).

pron/ʃuː/
  1. Alternative form of she.

    Yorkshire · alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

From Middle English scho, sheo, scheo, sȝheo, from Old English hēo (“she”). More at she.

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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.