Sheba

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃiːbə/

Etymology 1

From Biblical Hebrew שְׁבָא (Šəḇāʾ).

Proper noun

Sheba

1. (biblical) A former kingdom in the Red Sea region. An ancient kingdom in Arabia or possibly in Africa. Frequently equated with ancient Saba.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 10:1:
     :

     And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

2. (very rare outside the Bible) A male given name from Hebrew.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 20:1:

     And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

3. The 34th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

Synonyms

• (ancient biblical kingdom): Saba

Derived terms

• Queen of Sheba

Translations

biblical kingdom

• Arabic: سَبَأ (ar) (sabaʔ), شَبَا (šabā)
• Azerbaijani: Səba
• Bashkir: Сәба (Səba)
• Belarusian: Саба f (Saba)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 示巴 (Shìbā)

• Esperanto: Ŝeba
• Finnish: Saba (fi)
• Ge'ez: ሳባ (saba)
• Georgian: საბა (saba)
• German: Saba n
• Greek: Σαβα (Sava)
• Hebrew: שְׁבָא (sh'vá)
• Hungarian: Szabá
• Italian: Saba (it) f
• Japanese: シバ王 (Shiba-ō)
• Latin: Saba
• Portuguese: Sabá (pt) m
• Russian: Саба́ (ru) f (Sabá)
• Swedish: Saba
• Tibetan: སེ་བ། (se ba)
• Turkish: Sebe
• Ukrainian: Саба f (Saba)

34th sura of the Qur'an

• Arabic: سورة سبأ (ar)

Noun

Sheba (plural Shebas)

1. (dated, slang) A flapper (daring young woman of the Jazz Age).

Etymology 2

Short form of Bathsheba.

Proper noun

Sheba

1. A female given name from Hebrew.
   • 1996, Martha Grimes, Hotel Paradise, Headline, →ISBN, page 172:

     'I was kinda sweet on her my own self. Sheba Otis, her name was then.' I was surprised. 'She married a Queen? Which one?' 'Can't say.' He sighed. 'Her name's Bathsheba, but she never liked that much.'

Anagrams

• Bahes, saheb