sheep

Etymology 1

From Middle English schep, schepe, from Anglian Old English sċēp, a variant of sċēap, from Proto-West Germanic *skāp, from Proto-Germanic *skēpą (compare West Frisian skiep, North Frisian schäip, Dutch schaap, German Schaf), beside *keppô (compare Old Norse kjappi (“buck”), dialectal German Kippe (“newborn calf”)), of unknown origin. Perhaps from the same Scythian word (compare Ossetian цӕу (cæw, “goat”), Persian چپش (čapiš, “yearling goat”)) which was borrowed into Albanian as cjap, sqap (“buck”) and into Slavic (compare Polish cap). After Kroonen, *skēpą is instead from the root of Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scratch”) via Kluge's law.

noun

1. (countable) A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis.
2. (countable, strictly) A member of the domestic species Ovis aries, the most well-known species of Ovis.
3. (countable) A timid, shy person who is easily led by others.
4. (countable, chiefly Christianity, chiefly plural) A religious adherent, a member of a congregation or religious community (compare flock).
   1990, Dave Mustaine, "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", Megadeth, Rust in Peace. And fools like me, who cross the sea and come to foreign lands / Ask the sheep, for their beliefs do you kill on God's command?
5. (uncountable) Sheepskin leather.
6. (countable, speech recognition) A person who is easily understood by a speech recognition system; contrasted with goat.

Etymology 2

noun

1. (chiefly humorous) plural of shoop