# shire

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃaɪə/ · frequency rank #15,700

## Definitions
1. An administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending in -shire.
2. The people living in a shire (noun sense 1.1) considered collectively.
3. The general area in which a person comes from or lives.
4. An administrative area or district in other countries.
5. An administrative area or district in other countries.
6. Ellipsis of shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”).
7. A district or province governed by a person; specifically (Christianity), the province of an archbishop, the see of a bishop, etc.
8. A region; also, a country.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English schire (“region, shire, county”) [and other forms], from Old English sċīr (“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed; to see”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **sir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sir)
- **sie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sie)
- **sure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sure)
- **side** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-side)
- **shit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shit)
- **site** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-site)
- **size** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-size)
- **shoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shoe)
- **sore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sore)
- **stir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-stir)
- **Shri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shri)
- **sire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sire)
- **Siri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-siri)
- **sine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-sine)
- **shiv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shiv)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-short)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-store)
- **smile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-smile)
- **shirt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shirt)
- **shore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shire-vs-shore)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hsire`, `shhire`, `shier`, `shirre`, `shrie`, `sihre`, `sshire`

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