shy English · revision 7178

+ English has two words spelled shy: the adjective meaning timid, inherited from Old English, and a verb meaning to throw, of uncertain origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃaɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|timid}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=gem-pro *skeuhwaz}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English schey, [[inh|ang|sċēoh|t=timid, easily startled]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from Proto-Germanic *skeukhwaz, afraid,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) source also of Dutch [[m|nl|schuw]] and German [[m|de|scheu|t=shy]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Italian schivare and Old French eschiver, to avoid, are Germanic loanwords.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of horses, easily frightened or startled: about 1000 in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) schey, 1440, in the ''Promptorium Parvulorum''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Word Origins notes that the word was applied to horses, and to people from the start of the 17th century.^(Cresswell 2021) Shrinking from contact with others through timidity is by about 1600.^(Etymonline) Unwilling to commit oneself is from the 17th century.^(Hoad 1986) The verb, to recoil or take fright, is from the 1640s,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and a horse's sudden start aside from 1791.^(OED 1989) ''Shy away from'' is by 1867.^(Etymonline) As the second part of compounds, as ''gun-shy'', it is by 1849, and lacking or short of, American gambling slang, from 1895.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – of horses, easily startled.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1600 – of people, timid.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1640s – to start back (verb).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1849 – gun-shy.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1895 – short of.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Nervous or [[timid]] in the company of others.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Easily frightened; [[wary]]: ''camera-shy''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' Short of a stated amount.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # Of a horse, to start suddenly aside in fear.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(shy away from)'' To avoid through nervousness or reluctance.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[shyly]]

+ * [[shyness]]

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+ {{homograph|2|to throw}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=1787}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is of uncertain or obscure origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) The earliest uses refer to throwing sticks at cocks, suggesting a derivation from “shy cock”, a timid person (1768), or a cock trained to dodge, and so from the adjective shy.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To throw, fling: 1787, in Bentham's ''Defence of Usury''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The transitive ''shy at'', to fling at, is by 1793.^(Etymonline) The noun, a quick throw, is from 1791,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and a ''coconut shy'' at a fair is from the late 18th-century verb.^(Cresswell 2021) A try or attempt, ''have a shy at'', is from 1824, and a sarcastic attack from 1840.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1787 – to throw.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1791 – a throw (noun).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1824 – an attempt.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To fling or throw something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A quick throw.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' An attempt.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coconut shy]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[eschew]]

+ * [[skew]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}