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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

shy.

Easily frightened; timid.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ʃaɪ/

  1. Easily frightened; timid.

  2. Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.

    He is very shy with strangers.

  3. Cautious; wary; suspicious.

  4. Short, insufficient or less than.

    informal
    By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
    It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.

  5. Less likely to reveal whom they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on polling accuracy.

    UK · US
    Pollsters need to remember the shy Tory factor.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

verb/ʃaɪ/

  1. To avoid due to caution, embarrassment or timidness.

    intransitive

  2. To jump back in fear.

    intransitive
    The horse shied at the unexpected approach of a motor vehicle.

  3. To throw sideways with a jerk; to fling.

    transitive
    to shy a stone
    shy a slipper

  4. To throw a ball with two hands above the head, especially when it has crossed the side lines in a football (soccer) match.

    Scotland · intransitive · transitive

  5. To hit the ball back into play from the sidelines in a shinty match.

    Scotland
Where this word comes from

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

noun/ʃaɪ/

  1. An act of throwing.

  2. A place for throwing.

    coconut shy

  3. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.

  4. In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.

  5. A throw-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head.

    Scotland

  6. In shinty, the act of tossing the ball above the head and hitting it with the shaft of the caman to bring it back into play after it has been hit out of the field.

    Scotland

  7. A gibe; a sneer.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

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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.