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PlainSpell

shift

/ˈʃɪft/noun, verb

shift is spelled S-H-I-F-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shift means “A movement to do something, a beginning” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shift is shifts.

How many letters and syllables are in shift?

Letters5: S-H-I-F-T
Syllables1
In writing37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is shift?

Shift appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 shift?

  • /ˈʃɪft/
  • [ˈʃʰɪft]

Shift has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-ca-shift.oga, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-shift.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of shift

  • shifts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • shifting participle, present
  • shifted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does shift mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A movement to do something, a beginning.

  2. 2

    An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.

    There was a shift in the political atmosphere.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA share, a portion assigned on division.

  4. 4

    A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.

    Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.

  5. 5

    A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.

  6. 6

    A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.

    We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done.

  7. 7

    USThe gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.

    Does it come with a stick-shift?

  8. 8

    Alternative letter-case form of Shift (“a modifier button of computer keyboards”).

    If you press shift-P, the preview display will change.

verb

  1. 1

    To move from one place to another; to redistribute.

    We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.

  2. 2

    To change in form or character; switch.

  3. 3

    To change position; to move.

    She shifted slightly in her seat.

  4. 4

    IndiaTo change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.

    We are shifting to America next month.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of.

    'Tis very good to wash his hands and face often, to shift his clothes, to have fair linen about him, to be decently and comely attired […].

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo change (someone's) clothes; sometimes specifically, to change underwear.

  7. 7

    To change gears (in an automobile).

    I crested the hill and shifted into fifth.

  8. 8

    To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters or special characters.

noun

as Shift
  1. 1

    A modifier key whose main function is shifting between two or more functions of any of certain other keys (usually by pressing Shift and the other button simultaneously).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Shift in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchquart, équipe, poste, shift (change of workers), décalage (act of shifting), vitesse (gear mechanism in a motor vehicle)
GermanSchicht (change of workers), Verschiebung, Verlagerung, Verstellung (act of shifting), Gangschaltung, Schaltung (gear mechanism in a motor vehicle)
Portugueseturno (change of workers), troca, desvio, mudança (act of shifting), câmbio, marcha (gear mechanism in a motor vehicle)
Spanishturno, jornada, jornal (change of workers), cambio, desviación, deslizamiento (act of shifting)

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 shift come from?

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiftijan, from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after shift