eschew

English

WOTD – 28 March 2006

Etymology

From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver (modern French esquiver), (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *sciuhan (“to dread, shun, avoid”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhwijaną (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German sciuhen (“to frighten off”), German scheuen (“eschew”) (German scheuchen (“shoo”)), and Spanish esquivar. More at shy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɛsˈtʃuː/, /ɪsˈtʃuː/, /ɪʃˈtʃuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛsˈtʃu/, /ɪsˈtʃu/, /ɛsˈtʃju/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  (US, sometimes proscribed) IPA^(key): /ɛˈʃu/, /ɪˈʃu/ or /ɛˈskju/

  Garner's Modern American Usage prefers /s.tʃ/, proscribes /ʃ/, and does not recognize /sk/.

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

eschew (third-person singular simple present eschews, present participle eschewing, simple past and past participle eschewed)

1. (transitive, formal) To avoid; to shun, to shy away from.

Usage notes

• The verb eschew is not normally applied to the avoidance or shunning of a person or physical object, but rather, only to the avoidance or shunning of an idea, concept, or other intangible.

Quotations

		1599	1611			1927	2014
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals):

  What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd.

• 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Peter 3:11:

  Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

• 1927, H. P. Lovecraft, "The Horror at Red Hook"

  He could afford no servants, and would admit but few visitors to his absolute solitude; eschewing close friendships and receiving his rare acquaintances in one of the three ground-floor rooms which he kept in order.

• 2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

  [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

Derived terms

• eschewment
• umbeschew

Related terms

• shy

Translations

avoid, shun

• Afrikaans: ontwyk
• Albanian: shmang (sq)
• Armenian: խուսափել (hy) (xusapʿel)
• Bulgarian: отбягвам (bg) (otbjagvam), избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
• Czech: vyhnout se (cs) pf, vyvarovat se pf, vyhýbat se impf
• Dutch: vermijden (nl), schuwen (nl), ontwijken (nl)
• Finnish: välttää (fi), karttaa (fi)
• German: meiden (de), scheuen (de)
• Greek: αποφεύγω (el) (apofévgo)

• Hebrew: נמנע‎ (nimná)
• Irish: seachain
• Italian: schivare (it), rifuggire (it)
• Macedonian: ескивира (eskivira)
• Norwegian: sky (no)
• Old English: ætflēon
• Portuguese: renegar (pt)
• Romanian: evita (ro), ocoli (ro)
• Russian: сторони́ться (ru) (storonítʹsja), избега́ть (ru) (izbegátʹ)
• Slovak: vyhýbať sa
• Spanish: evitar (es)
• Swedish: sky (sv), undvika (sv)

Anagrams

• Schewe