Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sheriff

/ˈʃɛɹɪf/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.16 in modern English

Syllables
sher-iff
IPA
/ˈʃɛɹɪf/
16
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

(High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.

British usage

noun

A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.

noun

A government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in their county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected.

American usage

verb

To carry out the duties of a sheriff.

Transitive verb

name

An English surname originating as an occupation.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English shirreve, in turn inherited from Old English sċīrġerēfa, corresponding to shire + reeve. There is no etymological connection to sharif (Arabic شَرِيف (šarīf)), an Arabic title of honour with cognates in other languages, including Persian, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: shirreve, sċīrġerēfa

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Law.

Inflected Forms

sheriffs (plural) sherriff (alternative, obsolete) shrieve (alternative, obsolete) sheriffs (present, singular) sheriffing (participle, present) sheriffed (participle, past) sheriffed (past)

Derived Forms

sheriffalty sheriffdom sheriffess sheriffhood sheriffry sheriffship sheriffwick subsheriff undersheriff

Phrases

high sheriff Sheriff Hutton there is a new sheriff in town hatti-sherif justice of the peace

Frequently Paired Words

hatti-sherif bailiff constable justice of the peace marshal police

Rhymes With

tariff serif seraph

Questions

How do you pronounce sheriff?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈʃɛɹɪf/.
What does sheriff mean?
(High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
Where does sheriff come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce sheriff

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sheriff”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈʃɛɹɪf/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sheriff”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “sheriff” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.