sheer

Meaning

1. Very thin or transparent.
2. (obsolete) Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
3. Downright; complete; pure.
4. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
5. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.

pure

gauze-like

right-down

sheer off

denudate

very thin

tout a fait

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʃɪə/

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).