shadow
/ˈʃædoʊ̯/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.44 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom; obscurity.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "My shadow lengthened as the sun began to set."
- "The X-ray showed a shadow on his lung."
- "The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator."
- "I immediately jumped into shadow as I saw them approach."
- "In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lillies softly layd."
- "Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise."
Etymology
From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe, oblique form of sċeadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz (“shade, shadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“darkness”). Doublet of shade. Cognates Cognate with Scots shedda (“shadow”), Saterland Frisian Skaad, Skade (“shade, shadow”), West Frisian skaad, skâd (“shade, shadow”), Central Franconian and Limburgish Schatte (“shadow”), Dutch schade, schaduw (“shadow”), German Schatten (“shade, shadow”), German Low German Scharr, Scharre (“shade, shadow”), Luxembourgish Schiet (“shade, shadow”), Vilamovian siota (“shadow”), Yiddish שאָטן (shotn, “shadow”), Faroese skadda (“thick wet mountain fog”), Icelandic skodda, skoddi (“shadow”), Norwegian Bokmål skodde (“fog, mist”), Norwegian Nynorsk skodde, skåddj, skåidd (“fog; ice fog”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skadus, “shadow”); also Breton skeud (“shadow; reflection; ghost”), Cornish skeus (“shadow; reflection”), Irish scáth (“shadow”), Manx scaa, skæ (“shield; shade, shadow”), Scottish Gaelic sgàth (“shade, shadow”), Latin obscurus (“dark, dusky, shadowy”), Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, “darkness, gloom”) (whence English scoto-), Belarusian сівы́ (sivý, “grey”), Czech and Slovak sivý (“grey”), Macedonian осој (osoj, “shady place”), Polish siwy (“grey”), Russian си́вый (sívyj, “grey”), Serbo-Croatian сив, siv (“grey”), Slovene osoja (“shady place”), Ukrainian си́вий (sývyj, “grey”), Armenian սեաւ (seaw), սեւ (sew, “black”), Ossetian сау (saw, “black”), Persian سه (sah), سیه (siyah), سیاه (siyâh, “black”), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, “black”), श्याव (śyāva, “dark”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *(s)ḱeh₃-, schadowe, sċeaduwe, *skadu, *skaduz, schadowen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈʃædoʊ̯/
- British English: /ˈʃædəʊ̯/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Obsolete
- British usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
Inflected Forms
shadows (plural)
more shadow (comparative)
most shadow (superlative)
shadows (present, singular)
shadowing (participle, present)
shadowed (participle, past)
shadowed (past)