sheik

English

Alternative forms

• sheikh, shaykh

Etymology

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”). Sense 4 (“a romantic lover”) is from the 1921 film The Sheik.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃeɪk/, /ʃik/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk
• Homophones: shake, chic (different pronunciations)

Noun

sheik (plural sheiks)

1. The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.
   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 120:

     Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.

2. An Islamic religious cleric; the master of a Sufi order.
   • 2013 August 1, Islamic Online University Insights‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2021, page 10:

     He then studied under a variety of scholars (shuyook) and institutes around the world in his quest for authentic knowledge.

3. (some Arab Gulf countries) An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
5. (slang, archaic) A romantic lover. [1920s]
   • 1939, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, part 1, chapter 1:

     When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end.

6. (slang) An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing.
7. An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.

Usage notes

The title is commonly used for religious leaders as an expression of respect, in which case it does not imply an official status.

Derived terms

• sheik al-Yahud
• sheikdom
• sheiklike
• sheikly

Related terms

• sheikha

Translations

leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe

• Albanian: sheik (sq) m
• Arabic: شَيْخ (ar) m (šayḵ)

  Egyptian Arabic: شيخ m (šēḵ)

• Armenian: շեյխ (hy) (šeyx)
• Avar: шайих (šajix)
• Azerbaijani: şeyx
• Belarusian: шэйх m (šejx)
• Bengali: শেখ (bn) (śekh)
• Bulgarian: шейх m (šejh)
• Catalan: xeic (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謝赫 / 谢赫 (xièhè), 酋長 / 酋长 (zh) (qiúzhǎng)

• Czech: šejk (cs) m, šejch m, šajch m
• Dutch: sheik m
• Esperanto: ŝejko
• Estonian: šeik (et)
• Finnish: šeikki (fi), sheikki
• French: cheik (fr) m
• Galician: xeque m
• Georgian: შეიხი (šeixi)
• German: Scheich (de) m
• Greek: σεΐχης (el) m (seḯchis)
• Gujarati: શેખ m (śekh)
• Hebrew: שייח׳ / שֵׁיח m (sheykh)
• Hindi: शैख़ m (śaix), शेख (hi) m (śekh)
• Hungarian: sejk (hu)
• Icelandic: sjeik m
• Ido: sheiko (io)
• Indonesian: syekh (id)
• Irish: síc m
• Italian: sceicco (it)
• Japanese: シャイフ (ja) (shaifu), シェイフ (sheifu)
• Kazakh: шайқы (şaiqy)
• Korean: 샤이크 (syaikeu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شێخ (ckb) (şêx)

  Northern Kurdish: şêx (ku)

• Kyrgyz: шайык (ky) (şayık)
• Macedonian: ше́ик m (šéik)
• Malay: syeikh (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjeik m

  Nynorsk: sjeik m

• Pashto: شيخ m (šayx)
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: شَیْخ (šayx)

  Iranian Persian: شِیخ (šeyx)

• Polish: szejk (pl) m
• Portuguese: xeique (pt) m, xeque (pt) m
• Romanian: șeic (ro)
• Russian: шейх (ru) m (šejx)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ше̏ик m

  Latin: šȅik (sh) m

• Slovak: šejk m
• Slovene: šejk m
• Spanish: jeque (es) m
• Swedish: schejk (sv), shejk (sv) c
• Tagalog: heke
• Tajik: шайх (tg) (šayx)
• Turkish: şeyh (tr)
• Turkmen: şyh
• Ukrainian: шейх m (šejx)
• Urdu: شَیخ m (śaix)
• Uyghur: شەيخ (sheyx)
• Uzbek: shayx (uz)
• Yiddish: שייך m (sheykh)

Islamic religious clergy

• Arabic: شَيْخ (ar) m (šayḵ)

  Egyptian Arabic: شيخ m (šēḵ)

• Armenian: շեյխ (hy) (šeyx)
• Avar: шайих (šajix)
• Bengali: শেখ (bn) (śekh)
• Bulgarian: шейх m (šejh)
• Chichewa: shehe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謝赫 / 谢赫 (xièhè)

• Czech: šejk (cs) m, šejch m, šajch m
• Dutch: sheik m
• Estonian: šeik (et)
• Finnish: šeikki (fi)
• Georgian: შეიხი (šeixi)
• German: Scheich (de) m
• Greek: σεΐχης (el) m (seḯchis)
• Gujarati: શેખ m (śekh)
• Hindi: शैख़ m (śaix), शेख (hi) m (śekh)
• Hungarian: sejk (hu)
• Japanese: シャイフ (ja) (shaifu), シェイフ (sheifu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شێخ (ckb) (şêx)

  Northern Kurdish: şêx (ku)

• Macedonian: ше́ик m (šéik)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjeik m

  Nynorsk: sjeik m

• Persian:

  Classical Persian: شَیْخ (šayx)

  Iranian Persian: شِیخ (šeyx)

• Portuguese: xeique (pt) m, xeque (pt) m
• Russian: шейх (ru) m (šejx)
• Spanish: jeque (es) m
• Swahili: shehe
• Swedish: shejk (sv) c, schejk (sv) c
• Tagalog: heke
• Tajik: шайх (tg) (šayx)
• Urdu: شَیخ m (śaix)
• Uyghur: شەيخ (sheyx)
• Yao (Africa): shehe

Gulf countries: official title for members of the royal family

• Arabic: شَيْخ (ar) m (šayḵ)

  Egyptian Arabic: شيخ m (šēḵ)

• Armenian: շեյխ (hy) (šeyx)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謝赫 / 谢赫 (xièhè)

• Dutch: sheik m
• Esperanto: ŝejĥo
• Finnish: šeikki (fi)
• Georgian: შეიხი (šeixi)
• German: Scheich (de) m
• Greek: σεΐχης (el) m (seḯchis)
• Hungarian: sejk (hu)
• Italian: sceicco (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şêx (ku) m

• Macedonian: ше́ик m (šéik)
• Portuguese: xeique (pt) m, xeque (pt) m
• Russian: шейх (ru) m (šejx)
• Spanish: jeque (es) m
• Swedish: shejk (sv) c, schejk (sv) c

1920s: romantic lover

• Bulgarian: донжуа́н (bg) m (donžuán)
• Dutch: sheik m
• Greek: γόης (el) (góis)
• Macedonian: донжуа́н m (donžuán)
• Russian: донжуа́н (ru) m (donžuán)

Anagrams

• shiek, hikes, Seikh

Danish

Etymology

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɕɑjˀɡ]

Noun

sheik c (singular definite sheiken, plural indefinite sheiker)

1. sheik

   Coordinate terms: emir, sultan

2. (informal) a handsome young man
   1. (informal) a girl's boyfriend

Declension

Declension of sheik

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sheik	sheiken	sheiker	sheikerne
genitive	sheiks	sheikens	sheikers	sheikernes

Derived terms

• oliesheik
• sheikdømme

References

• “sheik” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ), from شَاخَ (šāḵa, “to age, grow old”).

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ʃɛi̯k/
• (East and West Flanders) IPA^(key): /ʃɛːk/
• Rhymes: -ɛi̯k

Noun

sheik m (plural sheiks, diminutive sheikje n)

1. sheik

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃej.ki/ [ˈʃeɪ̯.ki]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃej.ki/ [ˈʃeɪ̯.ki]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃej.ke/ [ˈʃeɪ̯.ke]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɐj.kɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɐj.kɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃej.kɨ/
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃej.kɨ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃe.kɨ/

Noun

sheik m (plural sheiks)

1. alternative form of xeique

   Coordinate terms: emir, sultão

Further reading

• “sheik”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Swahili

Alternative forms

• shekh, sheikh

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

sheik class V (plural masheik class VI)

1. sheik

   Synonym: shehe