Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sharn

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.41 in modern English

Syllables: sharn
IPA

8

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The dung or manure of cattle or sheep.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"right between the byre and the stable and the barn on one side and the house on the other was the cattle-court and right in the middle of that the midden, high and yellow with dung and straw and sharn, and Mistress Strachan could never forgive Peesie's Knapp because of that awful smell it had."

Etymology

From Middle English schern, from Old English sċearn (“sharn, dung, muck, filth”), from Proto-West Germanic *skarn, from Proto-Germanic *skarną (“manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“dung, manure”). Cognate with North Frisian skern (“dung, manure”), Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic skarn (“dung”), German Harn (“urine”). Doublet of skarn.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: schern, sċearn, *skarn, *skarną, *sker-

Usage

Uncountable

Inflected Forms

shairn (alternative) shearn (alternative) shern (alternative)

Derived Forms

sharnbod sharny

Rhymes With

barn darn yarn tarn karn bairn garn starn

Questions

What does sharn mean?: The dung or manure of cattle or sheep.
Where does sharn come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce sharn

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