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PlainSpell

shoo

/ʃuː/verb, interjection, pronoun

shoo is spelled S-H-O-O: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, shoo means “To induce someone or something to leave” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in shoo?

Letters4: S-H-O-O
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 34,912th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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 shoo?

Shoo appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th 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 shoo?

  • /ʃuː/

Shoo 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-shoo.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with shoo

Sounds like: SHU, shoe (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: she.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with shoo?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shoo.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: soho.

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 shoo

  • shoos present, singular, he/she/it
  • shooing participle, present
  • shooed participle, past
  • shoo!

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

What does shoo mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo induce someone or something to leave.

    Don't just shoo away mosquitoes, kill them!

  2. 2

    informalTo leave under inducement.

    You kids had better shoo before your parents get a call.

  3. 3

    informalrareTo usher someone.

    Shoo the visitor in.

interjection

  1. 1

    informalGo away! Clear off!

    Shoo, fly, don't bother me!

pronoun

  1. 1

    Alternative form of she.

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

Shoo in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchzou (to induce someone to leave), pschtt, ouste (go away)
Germanscheuchen, verscheuchen (to induce someone to leave), husch, kusch (go away)
Portugueseenxotar (to induce someone to leave), xô (go away)
Spanishahuyentar, correr, amontar, zalear, oxear, osear (to induce someone to leave)

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 shoo come from?

From Middle English schew, schowe, show, showe, scou (“shoo!”, interjection). Compare Middle High German schū, schuo (“shoo!”, interjection) (modern German scheu! (“shoo!”)), Dutch schuwen (“to shun”), German scheuchen (“to scare, drive away”).

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

What to look up after shoo