ewe

See also: Ewe, -ewe, and éwé

English

A mature ewe

A young ewe.

Etymology

From Middle English ewe, from Old English ēowu, from Proto-Germanic *awiz (compare Old English ēow (“sheep”), West Frisian ei, Dutch ooi, German Aue), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis (“sheep”) (compare Old Irish oí, Latin ovis, Tocharian B ā(ᵤ)w, Lithuanian avìs (“ewe”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juː/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /joː/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: eau, u, yew, you (in almost all dialects)
• Homophone: yo (Ireland)
• Homophones: hew, hue, Hugh (in h-dropping dialects)

Noun

ewe (plural ewes)

1. A female sheep, as opposed to a ram.

   Antonym: ram

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 31:38, column 2:

     This twentie yeeres haue I bene with thee: thy ewes and thy ſhee goates haue not caſt their yong, and the rammes of thy flocke haue I not eaten.

Synonyms

• yowe, yeo, yoe, yow (archaic, dialectal, Britain, Scotland)

Translations

female sheep

• Afrikaans: skaapooi (af)
• Albanian: dele (sq), delme (sq)
• Arabic: نَعْجَة‎ f (naʿja)

  Egyptian Arabic: نعجة‎ f (naʿga)

• Armenian: մաքի (hy) (makʿi)
• Aromanian: oai (roa-rup) f
• Belarusian: аве́чка f (avjéčka)
• Breton: dañvadez (br) f
• Bulgarian: овца́ (bg) f (ovcá)
• Burmese: သိုးမ (my) (sui:ma.)
• Catalan: ovella (ca) f
• Chechen: жий (žī)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: муён (mui͡on)

  Mandarin: 母羊 (zh) (mǔyáng), 牂 (zh) (zāng)

• Czech: ovce (cs) f
• Danish: moderfår, hunfår c
• Dutch: ooi (nl) f
• Esperanto: ŝafino
• Ewe: alẽnɔ
• Faroese: ær f
• Finnish: uuhi (fi), lammas (fi)
• French: brebis (fr) f
• Galician: ovella (gl) f
• Georgian: ცხვარი (cxvari)
• German: Schaf (de) n, weibliches Schaf n (for clarity), Mutterschaf (de) n (chiefly when with young), Zibbe (de) f (regional), Aue (de) f (obsolete)

  Alemannic German: Au f

• Greek: προβατίνα (el) f (provatína), αρνάδα (el) f (arnáda), αμνάδα (el) f (amnáda)

  Ancient: ἀμνάς f (amnás)

• Greenlandic: sava piaqqiortoq
• Hebrew: רחל \ רָחֵל‎ (he) f (rakhél)
• Hindi: भेड़ (hi) f (bheṛ)
• Icelandic: ær (is) f
• Irish: caora (ga) f, fóisc f (yearling), athchaora f (two-year-old), athfhóisc f (two-year-old)
• Italian: pecora (it) f
• Japanese: 牝羊 (めひつじ, mehitsuji), 雌羊 (めひつじ, mehitsuji)
• Korean: 암양 (ko) (amyang)

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مێ‎ (ku) (mê)

  Northern Kurdish: mî (ku), mîh (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: میە‎ (mye)

• Latin: ovis (la) f
• Latvian: avs (lv) f
• Low German: Au f
• Macedonian: овца f (ovca)
• Maori: uwha hipi, kātua hipi
• Navajo: dibétsaʼii
• Norman: brébis f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: søye m or f

  Nynorsk: søye f

• Old English: ēowu f
• Persian: میش‎ (fa) (miš)
• Polish: owca (pl) f
• Portuguese: ovelha (pt) f
• Romanian: oaie (ro) f, oiță (ro) f
• Russian: овца́ (ru) f (ovcá), я́рка (ru) f (járka)
• Scots: yowe
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о́вца f

  Roman: óvca (sh) f

• Slovak: ovca (sk) f
• Slovene: ovca (sl) f
• Spanish: oveja (es) f, oveja madre f
• Sumerian: 𒁱 (DARA4)
• Swedish: tacka (sv) c
• Telugu: మేషి (te) (mēṣi), ఆడగొర్రె (te) (āḍagorre)
• Tocharian B: awi
• Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎀𐎚 (ṯảt)
• Ukrainian: вівця́ (uk) f (vivcjá)
• Uzbek: sovliq (uz)
• Vietnamese: cừu cái
• Volapük: jijip (vo)
• Wolof: xar mu jigéen
• Zazaki: miy f, misna f

See also

• hog
• ram
• shearling
• teg
• wether

Anagrams

• eew, wee

---

Chuukese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eweɪ/

Article

ewe (plural ekkewe)

1. the (singular)

Usage notes

When used with a possessive, the word used is we.

---

Finnish

Noun

ewe

1. Ewe (member of a West African ethnic group)
2. Ewe (language)
3. Used also adjectivally with a hyphen or in genitive plural

   ewe-kulttuuri; ewejen kulttuuri

   Ewe culture

   ewe-kansa

   Ewe people

   ewejen kieli

   Ewe language

4. In plural (ewet), the Ewe (ethnic group)

Declension

Inflection of ewe (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		ewe	ewet
genitive		ewen	ewejen
partitive		eweä	ewejä
illative		eween	eweihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ewe	ewet
accusative	nom.	ewe	ewet
	gen.	ewen
genitive		ewen	ewejen
partitive		eweä	ewejä
inessive		ewessä	eweissä
elative		ewestä	eweistä
illative		eween	eweihin
adessive		ewellä	eweillä
ablative		eweltä	eweiltä
allative		ewelle	eweille
essive		ewenä	eweinä
translative		eweksi	eweiksi
instructive		—	ewein
abessive		ewettä	eweittä
comitative		—	eweineen

Possessive forms of ewe (type valo)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	eweni	ewemme
2nd person	ewesi	ewenne
3rd person	ewensä

---

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch ēwa, from Proto-Germanic *aiwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”).

Noun

êwe f

1. era
2. eternity
3. moral law
4. nature

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• êeu

Descendants

• Dutch: eeuw
  • Afrikaans: eeu
• Limburgish: ieuw

Further reading

• “ewe”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “ewe”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ēowu, from Proto-Germanic *awiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis.

Alternative forms

• awe, ouwe, eu, yowe, yeue

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiu̯(ə)/, /ˈjiu̯(ə)/
• Rhymes: -iu̯(ə)

Noun

ewe (plural ewen)

1. ewe (female sheep)

Descendants

• English: ewe
• Scots: yowe, yhow

References

• “eue, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

ewe

1. Alternative form of ew

---

Middle High German

Alternative forms

• ē

Etymology

From Old High German ēwa, akin to Old English ǣ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeː.wə/

Noun

ēwe ?

1. law
2. eternity
3. marriage

Descendants

• Alemannic German: Ee, E-e
• German: (Ehe)

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• iaue, egua, euwe

Etymology

From Latin aqua, from Proto-Italic *akʷā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water, flowing water”).

Noun

ewe f (oblique plural ewes, nominative singular ewe, nominative plural ewes)

1. water
   • a. 1350, Holkham Bible:

     E caunt ele estoyt de tut chargé
     La ewe vint curant a grant plenté.

     And when it [the Ark] was fully loaded
     the waters ran high and fast.

   • c. 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     L'ewe est bele e parfond qui en la cité cort

     The water which runs through the city is beautiful and deep

   • c. 1200, Marie de France, Guigemar:

     En bacins d'or ewe aporterent

     They brought water in basins made of gold

Descendants

• Middle French: eau, eaue
  • French: eau

---

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German eben, from Old High German eban. Compare German eben, Dutch even, English even.

Adjective

ewe

1. even
2. level

---

Swedish

Etymology

From Ewe Eʋeawó (“Ewe people”)

Noun

ewe c

1. Ewe (language)

---

Tocharian B

Noun

ewe ?

1. skin, hide

---

Xhosa

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [eːwé]

Adverb

ewé

1. yes