shim
/ʃɪm/noun, verb
shim is spelled S-H-I-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,832nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shim means “A wedge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shim is shims.
How many letters and syllables are in shim?
| Letters | 4: S-H-I-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 39,832nd 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 shim?
Shim appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,832nd 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 shim?
- /ʃɪm/
Shim 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-shim.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shim?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shim.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: mish.
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 shim
- shims plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shimming participle, present
- shimmed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shim mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A wedge.
- 2
A thin piece of material, sometimes tapered, used for alignment or support.
Near-synonym: shimstock (uncountable)
- 3
A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes.
- 4
A kind of shallowly cutting plow used in tillage to break the ground and clear it of weeds.
- 5
A small metal device used to pick open a lock.
- 6
A thin device inserted into a card reader by a criminal to facilitate fraud.
- 7
derogatoryinformalA transsexual person, especially a trans woman; (loosely) a drag queen or transvestite.
- 8
derogatoryinformalA person characterised by both male and female traits, or by ambiguous male-female traits; a hermaphrodite.
verb
- 1
To fit one or more shims to a piece of machinery or other assembly; to adjust (something) by using shims.
- 2
To adjust the homogeneity of a magnetic field (after the mechanical devices once used for the purpose).
- 3
To intercept and modify calls to (an API), usually for compatibility purposes.
- 4
To attack a point-of-sale card reader with a shim.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of scanning helium ion microscope.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shim in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | coin , cale, cale d'épaisseur, espaceur, étai, thibaude |
| German | Keil , Unterlage, Abstandhalter, Abstandsblech, Unterlegscheibe, Zwischenstück |
| Spanish | espaciador |
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 shim come from?
Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).