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Added 8 October 2026

shear

/ʃɪə/ verb

In Latin: tondeō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shear at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.
shear the llamas
To cut the hair of (a person).
shear the afro off someone's head
To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.

noun

A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.
A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.

adjective

Misspelling of sheer.

Origin

From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German, Dutch, and German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Faroese and Icelandic skera, (borrowed from Germanic) Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Kamkata-viri ċarë́- (“to chop”), Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian ski̇̀rti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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