SHEEP

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English schep, schepe, from Anglian Old English sċēp (West Saxon sċēap), from Proto-West Germanic *skāp, from Proto-Germanic *skēpą, of unknown origin. Perhaps from the same Scythian word (compare Ossetian цӕу (cæw, “goat”), Persian چپش (čapiš, “yearling goat”)) which was borrowed into Albanian as cjap, sqap (“buck”) and into Slavic (compare Polish cap). After Kroonen, *skēpą is instead from the root of Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scratch”) via Kluge's law. Cognate with Scots sheep (“sheep”), Yola sheep, zheep (“sheep”), North Frisian schep, schäip, Sjip (“sheep”), Saterland Frisian Schäip, Skäip (“sheep”), West Frisian skiep (“sheep”), Alemannic German Schaf, Schooff (“sheep”), Bavarian Schof, Schouf, Schåf (“sheep”), Dutch schaap (“sheep”), German Schaf (“sheep”), German Low German Schaap (“sheep”), Limburgish Schoëp, sjaop (“sheep”), Luxembourgish Schof (“sheep”), Vilamovian siöf (“sheep”), Yiddish שאָף (shof, “sheep”).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

SHEEP in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 23 players have found it across Outlier's history.

It first turned up on Day 28, 17 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 89, 17 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.

First found by a player on Day 28, 17 June 2026.

Built from these letters

SHEEP starts with S and ends with P. Sorted, its letters read EEHPS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once, including a double letter.

Same letters, different word

One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start SHEEP

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Also seen on Day 28