Etymology

sheikh

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Today it means: The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe. Full definition →

First used 1920sArabic شَيْخ
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The story

  1. Arabic · borrowed fromشَيْخ“elder”
  2. English todaysheikh

From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”). Sense 4 (“a romantic lover”) is from the 1921 film The Sheik.

First known use, by meaning

  • 1920s A romantic lover.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.