sheath
/ʃiθ/noun
sheath is spelled S-H-E-A-T-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sheath means “A holster for a sword; a scabbard” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sheath is sheaths.
How many letters and syllables are in sheath?
| Letters | 6: S-H-E-A-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,536th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sheath?
Sheath appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sheath?
- UK /ʃiːθ/
- US /ʃiθ/
Sheath has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sheath.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sheath?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sheath from its last stressed vowel (/iθ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sheath
- sheaths plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sheath mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
- 2
Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.
- 3
The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a branch or stem, as in grasses.
- 4
The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
- 5
One of the elytra of an insect.
- 6
A tight-fitting dress.
- 7
The foreskin of certain animals (for example, dogs and horses).
- 8
UKinformalA condom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sheath in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étui, gaine , fourreau, robe fourreau |
| German | Futteral, Hülle , Mantel, Ummantelung, Umhüllung |
| Portuguese | revestimento , prepúcio |
| Spanish | envoltura , cubierta exterior, envoltura exterior, funda exterior, vaina externa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sheath come from?
From Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms], from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted). The English word is cognate with Danish skede, Dutch schede, Icelandic skeið, German Scheide, Low German scheed, Norwegian skjede.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).