Shy - what does it mean? Origin, meaning and synonyms

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Shy - what does it mean? Origin, meaning and synonyms
Shy - what does it mean? Origin, meaning and synonyms
Anonim

Someone does not like this quality, but someone sees in him a certain virginity of the spirit. In any case, as always, there are different opinions about the object of study. Let's talk today about the verb "to be shy", it should be informative.

Origin

Timid child
Timid child

Let the reader remember in what situation he is lost, feels out of place. Lack of experience breeds embarrassment, fear, in other words, timidity. If a person is experienced in any area, then he has no reason to be shy. But surely the reader will be surprised by the history of the origin of the object of study. The etymological dictionary will be of great help to us.

So the verb is closely related to nouns like "child" and "slave." Moreover, the last word is older than all the others in this series. Therefore, whether we like it or not, in order to understand the meaning of the word “to be timid”, we need to at least talk a little about the etymology of “slave.”

As we know from history, we did not have a slave-owning system, but there were slaves, and therefore the word appeared in the language. The word "slave" is very ancient, and it can be found in the Old Slavonic language. There are consonant words in Latin and inOld Indian - orbus and arbhas, respectively. The first means "devoid of anything" and the second means "weak".

The noun "child" is derived from "slave", and "timid" - from "child". That is, the original meaning of the word "shy" is to behave like a child. The history of words hides many marvelous things. Now let's turn to our days.

Explanatory Dictionary

The girl lies on the green grass and laughs
The girl lies on the green grass and laughs

History is important and necessary to know, but most of us, unfortunately, neglect it, especially when it comes to the origin of words. If people are interested in the meaning of words, it is only for professional and educational purposes, while this is a wonderful hobby in itself. However, we digress. The explanatory dictionary states that to be shy is to be afraid, to be shy. But knowing the data of the etymological dictionary, we can interpret and reveal additional meanings.

A person who is shy, as it were, temporarily regresses and becomes a child. True, this hypothesis does not work with children: they have nowhere to regress. However, young children are generally timid and shy. They seem to be in a permanent state of confusion. Let's leave exceptions out of brackets.

Recall a little earlier expressed the idea that the lack of experience makes us embarrassed. At the first job interview, a person feels awkward. If he had passed thousands of such interviews, then there would be no problems. Although a lot depends on the prestige of the work and its importance for a person: when the stakes are high, you inevitably get nervous.

Synonyms

Undisguised shame
Undisguised shame

Hopefully, the goal has been achieved and we have explained the meaning of "to be timid". To consolidate our success, we want to talk more about synonyms. The list will be short and easy:

  • flutter,
  • to be embarrassed,
  • blush,
  • be scared,
  • shuffle.

Some of the verbs on the list are themselves worth talking about in more detail, but not this time.

It is not clear, is shyness a positive or negative quality? In some situations, if you can feign embarrassment, it will only work for you, while in others it is better to discard fearfulness and take the initiative in your own hands, for example, when you are passing an exam or looking for a job. In such conditions, being shy is not appropriate. But this quality makes itself felt, because a person is not a robot. However, the fight against complexes is one thing, and the meaning of words is another. The latter are much easier to deal with.

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