# eschew

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɛsˈt͡ʃuː/ · frequency rank #48,730

## Definitions
1. To avoid; to shun, to shy away from.

## Etymology
From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver, (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *skiuhijan (“to dread, shun, avoid”); thus a doublet of skew.
For the pronunciation with /ʃ/, compare the development of marshal from Middle English marschal (/marsˈt͡ʃaːl/) or Middle English myssheve, variant of myschef (“hardship”). Variants in /sk/ are either from unattested Middle English *eskewen (from Old Northern French eskiver; compare skew) or are spelling pronunciations.
See also French esquiver.

## Easily confused with
- **Esther** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eschew-vs-esther)
- **etched** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eschew-vs-etched)
- **escrow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eschew-vs-escrow)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ecshew`, `escchew`, `escehw`, `escheww`, `eschhew`, `eschwe`, `eshcew`, `esschew`, `sechew`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/eschew