shallow

See also: Shallow

English

Etymology

From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde (“shallow”), from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), Low German Scholl (“shallow water”). See also shoal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaləʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæl.oʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æləʊ
• Hyphenation: shal‧low

Adjective

shallow (comparative shallower, superlative shallowest)

1. Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.

   This crater is relatively shallow.

   Saute the onions in a shallow pan.

2. Extending not far downward.

   The water is shallow here.

3. Concerned mainly with superficial matters.

   It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.

4. Lacking interest or substance.

   The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.

5. Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.

   shallow learning

   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, OCLC 1086746628:

     The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.

6. (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
   • 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:

     the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring

7. (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net.
   • 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory.

Antonyms

• deep

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

having little depth and significantly less deep than wide

• Arabic: ضَحِل‎ (ḍaḥil)
• Armenian: ծանծաղ (hy) (cancał)
• Bashkir: һай (hay)
• Basque: azaleko (eu)
• Belarusian: ме́лкі (mjélki), неглыбо́кі (njehlybóki)
• Bikol Central: hababaw
• Bulgarian: пли́тък (bg) (plítǎk)
• Catalan: pla (ca), poc profund, superficial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淺 (zh), 浅 (zh) (qiǎn)

• Cornish: bas
• Czech: mělký (cs)
• Danish: flad (da), lav (da)
• Dutch: ondiep (nl), laag (nl)
• Esperanto: malprofunda
• Finnish: matala (fi), laakea (fi), laito
• French: peu profond
• Galician: superficial m or f
• Georgian: მარჩხობი (marčxobi), წყალმარჩხი (c̣q̇almarčxi)
• German: flach (de); (of bodies of water also) seicht (de), untief
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)

  Ancient: βροχθώδης (brokhthṓdēs)

• Hungarian: lapos (hu), sekély (hu)
• Interlingua: pauco profunde
• Irish: éadomhain, tanaí
• Italian: superficiale (it)
• Japanese: 浅い (ja) (あさい, asai)
• Korean: 얕다 (ko) (yatda)
• Latgalian: seklys
• Latvian: sekls (lv)

• Lithuanian: seklus
• Macedonian: плиток (plitok)
• Manx: aaghowin
• Maori: kōranga (of plant roots), kirimoko, pāhakehake (referring to the shape of the hull of a boat), pākihikihi (of the depth of water), koraha (of the depth of water over tidal mudflats), pāpaku (of the depth of water)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flat (no), lav (no), grunn (no)

  Nynorsk: flat, lav, grunn

• Occitan: superficial
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мѣлъкъ (mělŭkŭ)

• Persian: کم عمق‎ (kam-omq), تنک‎ (fa) (tonok), تخت‎ (fa) (taxt)
• Plautdietsch: flak
• Polish: płytki (pl), niegłęboki, miałki (pl) (dialectal)
• Portuguese: raso (pt), superficial (pt)
• Quechua: ch'aqcha
• Romanian: plat (ro), puțin adânc
• Russian: ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij), неглубо́кий (ru) (neglubókij)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пли́так

  Roman: plítak (sh)

• Slovak: plytký
• Slovene: plitev
• Spanish: poco profundo m, superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c
• Tagalog: mababaw
• Thai: ตื้น (th) (dtʉ̂ʉn)
• Tocharian B: tparṣke
• Ukrainian: мілки́й (milkýj), неглибо́кий (nehlybókyj), плитки́й (plytkýj)
• Veps: madal
• Vietnamese: nông (vi), cạn (vi)
• Welsh: bas (cy)

extending not far downward

• Armenian: ծանծաղ (hy) (cancał)
• Bashkir: һай (hay)
• Burmese: တိမ် (my) (tim)
• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淺 (zh), 浅 (zh) (qiǎn)

• Cornish: bas
• Czech: mělký (cs)
• Danish: lav (da), lavvandet (da) (body of water)
• Dutch: ondiep (nl)
• Finnish: matala (fi), laito
• French: peu profond
• German: seicht (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: sekély (hu)
• Indonesian: dangkal (id)
• Irish: éadomhain, tanaí
• Italian: poco profondo m

• Latvian: sekls (lv)
• Macedonian: плиток (plitok)
• Manx: aaghowin
• Maori: pāpaku (of water depth), pakiranga (of the ground, soil), pākihikihi (of the depth of water)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grunn (no)

  Nynorsk: grunn

• Plautdietsch: flak
• Polish: płytki (pl)
• Portuguese: superficial (pt)
• Russian: ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn
• Spanish: superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c, grund (sv) (when referring to water)
• Thai: ตื้น (th) (dtʉ̂ʉn)
• Turkish: sığ (tr)
• Ukrainian: мілки́й (milkýj)
• Veps: madal
• Welsh: bas (cy)

concerned mainly with superficial matters

• Belarusian: паве́рхневы (pavjérxnjevy), павярхо́ўны (pavjarxóŭny)
• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膚淺 (zh), 肤浅 (zh) (fūqiǎn), 淺薄 (zh), 浅薄 (zh) (qiǎnbó)

• Czech: povrchní (cs)
• Danish: overfladisk
• Dutch: oppervlakkig (nl)
• Finnish: pinnallinen (fi)
• French: superficiel (fr)
• Georgian: ზედაპირული (zedaṗiruli), წვრილმანი (c̣vrilmani)
• German: oberflächlich (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: sekélyes
• Italian: superficiale (it) m or f
• Japanese: 浅い (ja) (あさい, asai)

• Macedonian: површен (površen)
• Maori: ngākau pāpaku
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overfladisk (no), overflatisk

  Nynorsk: overflatisk

• Polish: miałki (pl), powierzchowny (pl)
• Portuguese: superficial (pt)
• Russian: пове́рхностный (ru) (povérxnostnyj), ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn, faoin
• Spanish: superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c
• Thai: ตื้น (th) (dtʉ̂ʉn)
• Turkish: sığ (tr)
• Ukrainian: поверхне́вий (poverxnévyj), неглибо́кий (nehlybókyj), зо́внішній (zóvnišnij)

lacking interest or substance

• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Czech: povrchní (cs)
• Danish: åndsforladt
• Finnish: pinnallinen (fi)
• French: superficiel (fr)
• Georgian: ზედაპირული (zedaṗiruli)
• German: oberflächlich (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: felszínes (hu), felületes (hu)
• Italian: superficiale (it)

• Macedonian: површен (površen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overfladisk (no), overflatisk

  Nynorsk: overflatisk

• Portuguese: desinteressante (pt)
• Russian: пове́рхностный (ru) (povérxnostnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faoin, eu-domhainn
• Spanish: superficial (es), desinteresante m
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c
• Ukrainian: поверхо́вий (poverxóvyj), неглибо́кий (nehlybókyj), побі́жний (pobížnyj)

Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.

• Maori: whakaaroiti, mōhio ngutu

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ondiep (nl) (1, 2), oppervlakkig (nl) (3, 4)
• Italian: poco profondo (1, 2); superficiale (it) (3)
• Romanian: superficial (ro)

• Spanish: poco profundo (1, 2); superficial (es) (3, 4)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} grund (sv)
• Turkish: sığ (tr) (2, 3, 4)

Noun

shallow (plural shallows)

1. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.

   The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.

   • 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:

     A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but […] upon shallows of gravel.

   • 1697, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:

     dashed on the shallows of the moving sand

   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine:

     It happened that, as I was watching some of the little people bathing in a shallow, one of them was seized with cramp and began drifting downstream.

2. A fish, the rudd.
3. (historical) A costermonger's barrow.
   • 1871, Belgravia (volume 14, page 213)

     You might have gone there quite as easily, and enjoyed yourself much more, had your mode of conveyance been the railway, or a hansom, or even a costermonger's shallow.

Usage notes

• Usually used in the plural form.

Translations

shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water

• Albanian: cekëtinë (sq) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淺灘 (zh), 浅滩 (zh) (qiǎntān)

• Czech: mělčina (cs) f
• Dutch: ondiepte (nl) f
• French: haut-fond (fr) m, baisse (fr) f, bas-fond (fr) m (dated)
• German: Untiefe (de) f

  Alemannic German: Gelungg m

• Greek:

  Ancient: τέναγος n (ténagos)

• Hebrew: רְדֵדָה‎ (he) f (rededah)
• Indonesian: dangkalan (id)

• Italian: secca (it) f
• Japanese: 川瀬 (かわせ, kawase)
• Korean: 여울 (ko) (yeoul)
• Latin: vadum (la) n
• Macedonian: плитак m (plitak)
• Maori: pāti
• Polish: mielizna (pl) f
• Portuguese: raso (pt), rasa (pt)
• Russian: мель (ru) f (melʹ), о́тмель (ru) f (ótmelʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: tanalachd f
• Spanish: bajo (es) m, bajofondo m
• Swedish: grund (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мілина́ f (milyná)

See also

• shoal
• sandbar
• sandbank

Verb

shallow (third-person singular simple present shallows, present participle shallowing, simple past and past participle shallowed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become less deep.
   • 2009 February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., “Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota”, in Science‎^[2], volume 323, number 5915, DOI:10.1126/science.1164905, pages 767-771:

     The shallowing of Cenozoic age-frequency curves from tropics to poles thus appears to reflect the decreasing probability for genera to reach and remain established in progressively higher latitudes ( 9 ).

Anagrams

• hallows