shill
/ʃɪl/noun, verb
shill is spelled S-H-I-L-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shill means “A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shill is shills.
How many letters and syllables are in shill?
| Letters | 5: S-H-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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 shill?
Shill appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,680th 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 shill?
- /ʃɪl/
Shill 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-shill.ogg, En-au-shill.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shill?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shill.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hills.
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 shill
- shills plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shilling participle, present
- shilled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
carnival barkers and their shills, fleecing the rubes
- 2
derogatoryAny person enthusiastically endorsing a product; especially, one who is getting paid for the endorsement.
On the screen, there was that quack again, playing the shill for yet another drug company.
- 3
An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game, such as an accomplice of the seller who bids to drive up the price.
Near-synonyms: inside man, potted plant (contextually synonymous)
- 4
A house player in a casino.
verb
- 1
derogatoryTo promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly; sometimes extended sarcastically even to those not paid but strongly biased in favor.
That contractor seems to be shilling for a certain brand of building materials.
- 2
To put under cover; to sheal.
- 3
UKobsoleteTo shell.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | homme de paille, prête-nom , compère, commère, comparse, complice |
| German | Anreißer, Anreißerin , Lockvogel, Gehilfe des Schaustellers, Gehilfe des Hausierers, Gehilfin des Schaustellers |
| Spanish | testaferro, hombre de paja, calanchín, testaférrea, entruchón , compinche |
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 shill come from?
Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction. Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).