Standard Lemma guide

shyness

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • /ˈʃaɪnəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪnəs
  • CMU ARPABET: SH AY1 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being shy; a fear of social interactions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • Her shyness kept her from asking him to the prom.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a feeling of fear of embarrassment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: timidity, timidness, timorousness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle English shy English shy Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English shyness From shy + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ամոթ (amotʻ) — quality of being shy
  • Belarusian: сарамлі́васць (saramlívascʹ) — quality of being shy
  • Breton: abafded — quality of being shy
  • Breton: abafder — quality of being shy
  • Catalan: timidesa — quality of being shy
  • Catalan: timiditat — quality of being shy
  • Chinese: pì-sù — quality of being shy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 羞怯 (xiūqiè, xiūquè) — quality of being shy
  • Czech: plachost — quality of being shy
  • Czech: stydlivost — quality of being shy
  • Old Czech: chúlost — quality of being shy
  • Danish: genert — quality of being shy
  • Dutch: verlegenheid — quality of being shy
  • Finnish: ujous — quality of being shy
  • French: timidité — quality of being shy
  • Galician: timidez — quality of being shy
  • German: Schüchternheit — quality of being shy
  • German: Scheu — quality of being shy
  • German: Scheuheit — quality of being shy
  • Greek: ντροπαλότητα (ntropalótita) — quality of being shy
  • Greek: ντροπαλοσύνη (ntropalosýni) — quality of being shy
  • Hausa: kunya — quality of being shy
  • Icelandic: feimni — quality of being shy
  • Irish: cotadh — quality of being shy
  • Central Kurdish: شەرم (şerm) — quality of being shy
  • Latin: verēcundia — quality of being shy
  • Latvian: biklums — quality of being shy
  • Latvian: biklība — quality of being shy
  • Malayalam: ലജ്ജ (lajja) — quality of being shy
  • Malayalam: നാണം (nāṇaṁ) — quality of being shy
  • Māori: ninihi — quality of being shy
  • Polish: nieśmiałość — quality of being shy
  • Portuguese: timidez — quality of being shy
  • Romanian: timiditate — quality of being shy
  • Russian: скро́мность (skrómnostʹ) — quality of being shy
  • Russian: засте́нчивость (zasténčivostʹ) — quality of being shy
  • Spanish: timidez — quality of being shy
  • Swahili: soni — quality of being shy
  • Telugu: బిడియం (biḍiyaṁ) — quality of being shy
  • Turkish: utangaçlık — quality of being shy
  • Ottoman Turkish: محجوبلق (mahcubluk) — quality of being shy
  • Ukrainian: соромли́вість (soromlývistʹ) — quality of being shy
  • Ukrainian: сором'язли́вість (soromʺjazlývistʹ) — quality of being shy