schüchtern

Borrowed from Middle Low German schüchter, whence also Dutch schuchter. Cognate with scheu. The final -n is an original case ending, which was sometimes added to the stem in Low German (compare German albern).

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃʏçtɐn/

• Audio:

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schüchtern (strong nominative masculine singular schüchterner, comparative schüchterner, superlative am schüchternsten)

1. shy, timid, bashful

   Sei nicht schüchtern! ― Don't be shy!

The words scheu and schüchtern both translate into English as “shy”. Although they are sometimes synonyms in German as well, there is generally a subtle distinction: scheu means “avoiding contact with others”, whereas schüchtern means “feeling uncomfortable or awkward in contact with others”. (Hence, one's being schüchtern may but need not lead to one's becoming scheu.)

• einschüchtern

schüchtern

1. timidly, shyly

   schüchtern bitten ― to ask timidly

• scheu
• zaghaft
• zurückhaltend

• “schüchtern” in Duden online
• “schüchtern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “schüchtern”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891