Meanings
sheriff1
plural sheriffs · alternative obsolete sherriff · alternative obsolete shrieve
- UKexcept Scotland(High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
- ScotlandA judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
- USA government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in their county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected.
present singular third person sheriffs · participle present sheriffing · participle past sheriffed · past sheriffed · alternative obsolete sherriff · alternative obsolete shrieve
Sheriff2
- An English surname originating as an occupation.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
sheriff · noun, verb
- Old Englishsċīrġerēfa
- Middle Englishshirreve
- Englishsheriff
Inherited from Middle English shirreve, in turn inherited from Old English sċīrġerēfa, corresponding to shire + reeve. There is no etymological connection to sharif (Arabic شَرِيف (šarīf)), an Arabic title of honour with cognates in other languages, including Persian, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic شَرِيف
- شَرِيف (šarīf)all meanings
Bulgarian шери́ф
- шери́ф (šeríf)all meanings
Catalan xèrif
- xèrifall meanings
Chinese Mandarin 郡治安官
- 郡治安官 (jùnzhì'ānguān)all meanings
Czech šerif
- šerifall meanings
Danish sherif
- sherifall meanings
Dutch sheriff
- sheriffall meanings
Esperanto ŝerifo
- ŝerifoall meanings
Estonian šerif
- šerifall meanings
Finnish šeriffi, seriffi
- šeriffiall meanings
- seriffiall meanings
- sheriffiall meanings
French shérif
- shérifall meanings
German Sheriff
- Sheriffall meanings
Greek σερίφης
- σερίφης (serífis)all meanings
Hebrew שֵׁרִיף
- שֵׁרִיף (shérif)all meanings
Hindi शेरिफ़, शरीफ
- शेरिफ़ (śerif)all meanings
- शरीफ (śarīph)all meanings
Hungarian seriff, megyei rendőrfőnök
- seriffall meanings
- megyei rendőrfőnökall meanings
Icelandic fógeti, skerfari
- fógetiall meanings
- skerfariall meanings
Irish sirriam
- sirriamall meanings
Italian sceriffo
- sceriffoall meanings
Japanese 保安官, シェリフ
- 保安官 (hoankan)all meanings
- シェリフ (sherifu)all meanings
Korean 보안관, 형사
- 보안관 (boan'gwan)all meanings
- 형사 (hyeongsa)all meanings
- 세리프 (seripeu)all meanings
Latvian šerifs
- šerifsall meanings
Lithuanian šerifas
- šerifasall meanings
Malay syerif
- syerifall meanings
Norwegian Bokmål sheriff, lensmann
- sheriffall meanings
- lensmannall meanings
Polish szeryf
- szeryfall meanings
Portuguese xerife
- xerifeall meanings
Romanian șerif
- șerifall meanings
Russian шери́ф
- шери́ф (šeríf)all meanings
Scottish Gaelic siorram
- siorramall meanings
Slovak šerif
- šerifall meanings
Spanish sheriff, alguacil
- sheriffall meanings
- alguacilall meanings
Swedish sheriff
- sheriffall meanings
Tagalog serip
- seripall meanings
Turkish şerif
- şerifall meanings
Ukrainian шери́ф
- шери́ф (šerýf)all meanings
Urdu شیرِف
- شیرِف (śerif)all meanings
Vietnamese cảnh sát trưởng
- cảnh sát trưởngall meanings
Welsh siryf
- siryfall meanings
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sheriff
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
sheriff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sheriff
“sheriff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sheriff. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sheriff,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sheriff.
Source: sheriff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.