shend
/ʃɛnd/
"shend" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shend” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To disgrace or put to shame.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shend · shend · English
shend · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shend |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ʃɛnd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shend” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shend is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ʃɛnd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for shend in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English shenden, from Old English sċendan (“to put to shame, blame, disgrace”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandijan (“to scold, berate”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kem- (“to cover”). Cognate with Dutch schenden (“to infringe, profane, defile”… The correct English form is shend, spelled S-H-E-N-D.
Definition
- 1To disgrace or put to shame.
- 2To blame.
- 3To destroy; to spoil.
- 4To overpower; to surpass.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shend appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Her fawning love with foule disdainefull spight He would not shend
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your greatness back?
Etymology
From Middle English shenden, from Old English sċendan (“to put to shame, blame, disgrace”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandijan (“to scold, berate”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kem- (“to cover”). Cognate with Dutch schenden (“to infringe, profane, defile”), German schänden (“defile”). Related to Old English sċand (“infamy, shame, scandal”). More at shand, shame.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.