eschew
/ɛsˈt͡ʃu/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.57 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "And peraduenture my lady the quene sente for hym to that entente that syr Launcelot shold come to her good grace pryuely and secretely wenynge to her that hit was best so to do in eschewyng & dredyng of sklaunder "And peradventure my lady, the queen, sent for him to that intent that Sir Launcelot should come to her good grace privily and secretly, weening to her that it was best so to do, in eschewing and dreading of slander""
- "What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd."
- "Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it."
- "Above all, let her eschew the impertinence of invention; let her leave genius to her milliner."
- "He could afford no servants, and would admit but few visitors to his absolute solitude; eschewing close friendships and receiving his rare acquaintances in one of the three ground-floor rooms which he kept in order."
- "[S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible."
Etymology
From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver, (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *skiuhijan (“to dread, shun, avoid”); thus a doublet of skew. For the pronunciation with /ʃ/, compare the development of marshal from Middle English marschal (/marsˈt͡ʃaːl/) or Middle English myssheve, variant of myschef (“hardship”). Variants in /sk/ are either from unattested Middle English *eskewen (from Old Northern French eskiver; compare skew) or are spelling pronunciations. See also French esquiver.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: eschewen, eschiver, *skiuhijan
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɛsˈt͡ʃu/
- British English: /ɛsˈt͡ʃuː/