Meanings
comparative more bashful · superlative most bashful · alternative archaic bashfull
- Shy; not liking to be noticed; socially timid.
- Indicating bashfulness.
a bashful look
1 more example
“Have you done something to your hair?” “I just ran a comb through it,” shrugged the vicar. “Well, it looks delightful.” “How delightful of you to say so.” Auntie Flip and the vicar shared bashful grins. Frank had never witnessed his babysitter behave like this before.
2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveself-consciously timid
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
16th-century apheresis of abashed + -ful (“full of”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek αἰδήμων, αἰδοῖος
- αἰδήμων (aidḗmōn)inclined to avoid notice
- αἰδοῖος (aidoîos)inclined to avoid notice
Arabic خَجُول
- خَجُول (ḵajūl)inclined to avoid notice
Bulgarian плах, свенли́в
- плах (plah)inclined to avoid notice
- свенли́в (svenlív)inclined to avoid notice
- срамежли́в (sramežlív)inclined to avoid notice
Chinese Mandarin 害羞
- 害羞 (hàixiū)inclined to avoid notice
Danish sky
- skyinclined to avoid notice
Dutch verlegen, timide
- verlegeninclined to avoid notice
- timideinclined to avoid notice
Finnish ujo
- ujoinclined to avoid notice
French timide
- timideinclined to avoid notice
German schüchtern, verlegen
- schüchterninclined to avoid notice
- verlegeninclined to avoid notice
- scheuinclined to avoid notice
Greek ντροπαλός
- ντροπαλός (ntropalós)inclined to avoid notice
Irish náireach, náiriúil
- náireachinclined to avoid notice
- náiriúilinclined to avoid notice
- faiteachinclined to avoid notice
Italian vergognoso, timido
- vergognosoinclined to avoid notice
- timidoinclined to avoid notice
- modestoinclined to avoid notice
Japanese 恥ずかしがり屋の, 恥ずかしい
- 恥ずかしがり屋の (hazukashigariya no)inclined to avoid notice
- 恥ずかしい (hazukashii)inclined to avoid notice
Korean 부끄럼을 타다
- 부끄럼을 타다 (bukkeureomeul tada)inclined to avoid notice
Latin pudens, verēcundus
- pudensinclined to avoid notice
- verēcundusinclined to avoid notice
Latvian kaunīgs
- kaunīgsinclined to avoid notice
Māori konekone, numinumi
- konekoneinclined to avoid notice
- numinumiinclined to avoid notice
Norwegian Bokmål beskjeden, sky
- beskjedeninclined to avoid notice
- skyinclined to avoid notice
- forlegeninclined to avoid notice
- unnseliginclined to avoid notice
Portuguese tímido, recatado
- tímidoinclined to avoid notice
- recatadoinclined to avoid notice
Romanian rușinos
- rușinosinclined to avoid notice
Russian засте́нчивый, ро́бкий
- засте́нчивый (zasténčivyj)inclined to avoid notice
- ро́бкий (róbkij)inclined to avoid notice
- скро́мный (skrómnyj)inclined to avoid notice
Spanish tímido
- tímidoinclined to avoid notice
Turkish utangaç
- utangaçinclined to avoid notice
Ukrainian соромли́вий, сором'язли́вий
- соромли́вий (soromlývyj)inclined to avoid notice
- сором'язли́вий (soromʺjazlývyj)inclined to avoid notice
- сором'язни́й (soromʺjaznýj)inclined to avoid notice
Welsh swil
- swilinclined to avoid notice
Cite this entry
bashful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bashful
“bashful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bashful. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bashful,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bashful.
Source: bashful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.