name
Meaning 1
An English surname originating as an occupation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
sheriff
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈʃɛɹɪf/
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/ˈʃɛɹəf/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛɹɪf
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rhymes with -ɛɹəf
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CMU ARPABET: SH EH1 R AH0 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: SH EH1 R IH0 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
(High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK
Qualifier: except Scotland
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To carry out the duties of a sheriff.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
the principal law-enforcement officer in a county
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lawman, law officer, peace officer
History
Etymology
From sheriff.
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.
Across languages
Translations
55 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: شَرِيف (šarīf) — all meanings
- Armenian: շերիֆ (šerif) — all meanings
- Belarusian: шэры́ф (šerýf) — all meanings
- Bulgarian: шери́ф (šeríf) — all meanings
- Catalan: xèrif — all meanings
- Chinese Mandarin: 郡治安官 (jùnzhì'ānguān) — all meanings
- Czech: šerif — all meanings
- Dutch: sheriff — all meanings
- Esperanto: ŝerifo — all meanings
- Finnish: šeriffi — all meanings
- Finnish: seriffi — all meanings
- Finnish: sheriffi — all meanings
- French: shérif — all meanings
- Galician: shériff — all meanings
- Georgian: შერიფი (šeripi) — all meanings
- German: Sheriff — all meanings
- Greek: σερίφης (serífis) — all meanings
- Hebrew: שֶׁרִיף (šeríf) — all meanings
- Hindi: शेरिफ़ (śerif) — all meanings
- Hindi: शरीफ (śarīph) — all meanings
- Hungarian: seriff — all meanings
- Hungarian: megyei rendőrfőnök — all meanings
- Icelandic: fógeti — all meanings
- Icelandic: skerfari — all meanings
- Ido: ushero — all meanings
- Irish: sirriam — all meanings
- Italian: sceriffo — all meanings
- Japanese: 保安官 (hoankan) — all meanings
- Japanese: シェリフ (sherifu) — all meanings
- Japanese: 郡治安官 (gunchiankan) — all meanings
- Korean: 보안관 (boan'gwan) — all meanings
- Korean: 형사 (hyeongsa) — all meanings
- Malay: syerif — all meanings
- Marathi: शेरिफ (śeriph) — all meanings
- Norwegian: sheriff — all meanings
- Norwegian: lensmann — all meanings
- Ojibwe: dakoniwewinini — all meanings
- Persian: کلانتر (kalântar) — all meanings
- Persian: شریف (šerif) — all meanings
- Polish: szeryf — all meanings
- Portuguese: xerife — all meanings
- Romanian: șerif — all meanings
- Russian: шери́ф (šeríf) — all meanings
- Scottish Gaelic: siorram — all meanings
- Serbo-Croatian: шѐриф — all meanings
- Serbo-Croatian: šèrif — all meanings
- Spanish: sheriff — all meanings
- Spanish: alguacil — all meanings
- Swedish: sheriff — all meanings
- Tagalog: serip — all meanings
- Tewa: awasêe — all meanings
- Turkish: şerif — all meanings
- Ukrainian: шери́ф (šerýf) — all meanings
- Urdu: شیرف (śerif) — all meanings
- Welsh: siryf — all meanings
Real reading context