ewe

See also: Ewe, -ewe, and éwé

English

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 Tocharian B ā(ᵤ)w, Lithuanian avìs (“ewe”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juː/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: u, yew, you (in all dialects)
• Homophones: hew, hue (in h-dropping dialects)

Noun

ewe (plural ewes)

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

   1611, Bible (King James Version), Genesis 31:38:

   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.

Usage notes

• Because of its pronunciation and despite its spelling, this word most commonly takes the indefinite article a rather than an.

Translations

female sheep

• Afrikaans: skaapooi (af)
• Albanian: dele (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

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

• Czech: ovce (cs) f
• Danish: moderfår
• Dutch: ooi (nl) f
• Esperanto: ŝafino
• Ewe: alẽnɔ
• Faroese: ær f
• Finnish: uuhi (fi)
• French: brebis (fr) f
• Galician: ovella (gl) f
• Georgian: ცხვარი (cxvari)
• German: Mutterschaf (de) n, Aue (de) f, Zibbe f, Zicke (de) f
• Greek: προβατίνα (el) f (provatína), αρνάδα (el) f (arnáda), αμνάδα (el) f (amnáda)

  Ancient: ἀμνάς f (amnás)

• Hebrew: רָחֵל‏‎ (he) f (rāḥēl)
• Icelandic: ær (is) f
• Italian: pecora (it) f
• Japanese: 牝羊 (めひつじ, mehitsuji), 雌羊 (めひつじ, mehitsuji)

• Korean: 암양 (ko) (amyang)
• Latin: ovis (la) f
• Low German: Au f
• Macedonian: овца f (ovca)
• Maori: uwha hipi, kātua hipi
• Navajo: dibétsaʼii
• Norman: brébis f (Jersey)
• Norwegian: søye c
• Old English: ēowu
• Persian: میش‏‎ (fa) (miš), موک‏‎ (fa) (muk)
• 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
• Swedish: tacka (sv) c
• Telugu: మేషి (te) (mēṣi), ఆడగొర్రె (te) (āḍagorre)
• Tocharian B: awi
• Ukrainian: вівця́ (uk) f (vivcjá)
• Uzbek: sovliq (uz)
• Vietnamese: cuu cai
• Volapük: jijip (vo)
• Wolof: xar mu jigéen

See also

• hog
• ram
• shearling
• teg
• wether

Anagrams

• eew, wee

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Chuukese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eweɪ/

Article

ewe (plural ekkewe)

1. the (singular)

Usage notes

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

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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

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Middle Dutch

Alternative forms

• eeu

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.

Descendants

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

Further reading

• “ewe”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “ewe”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

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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
   • (Can we date this quote?) 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.

   • circa 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

   • circa 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

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Swedish

Noun

ewe c

1. Ewe (language)