# sheen

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ʃiːn/ · frequency rank #18,690

## Definitions
1. Beautiful, good-looking, attractive; radiant; shiny.

## Etymology
From Middle English shene, schene, from Old English sċīene (“beautiful, fair, bright, brilliant, light”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaunī, from Proto-Germanic *skauniz (“beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁-.
Cognate with Scots schene, scheine (“beautiful, fair, attractive”), Saterland Frisian skeen (“clean, pure”), West Frisian skjin (“nice, clean”), Dutch schoon (“clean, beautiful, fair”), German schön (“beautiful”), Danish skøn (“beautiful”), Norwegian Bokmål skjønn (“beautiful”), Norwegian Nynorsk skjønn (“beautiful”), Swedish skön (“beautiful, fine”). Compare also the loanword Finnish kaunis (“beautiful”). See also English show.

## Easily confused with
- **shoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shoe)
- **shin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shin)
- **Shen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shen)
- **shun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shun)
- **Sven** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sven)
- **shep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shep)
- **Shem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shem)
- **Shek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shek)
- **sleep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sleep)
- **speed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-speed)
- **sweet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sweet)
- **shown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shown)
- **steel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-steel)
- **shoes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shoes)
- **sheet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sheet)
- **shell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shell)
- **sheep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sheep)
- **shelf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-shelf)
- **sheer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-sheer)
- **steep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheen-vs-steep)

## Common misspellings (6)
`hseen`, `sehen`, `sheenn`, `shene`, `shheen`, `ssheen`

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